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Library of The Theological Seminary 


PRINCETON * NEW JERSEY 
CQ <p: 
PRESENTED BY 
Clarence Edward Macartney 
BV 4241 .M2 
Macartney, Clarence Edward 


Noble, 1879-1957. 
Great sermons of the world 


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Introduction 


CELEBRATED preacher was once asked by an 

enthusiastic hearer if he might have the privilege 

of printing the sermon to which he had just listened. 
‘Yes,’ answered the preacher, “‘provided you print the 
thunder also.’’ Alas, this cannot be done. 

We can print the written record of what the preacher 
said; but the light in his eye, the glow of his cheek, the 
sweep of his hand, the attitude of his body, the music of 
his voice, that we cannot print. When we have put down 
the theme and the divisions and paragraphs and the very 
words which were spoken we do not have the preacher. 
All that we can say of a printed sermon is what Job said 
of the Creator’s majesty, ‘‘Lo, these are parts of his ways: 
but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of 
his power who can understand?” ‘The greater the preacher 
the greater the contrast between the written record and the 
spoken sermon. One reads of the thronging thousands 
who listened enthralled to the preaching of Whitefield, and 
then wonders what produced such an impression when he 
takes up a volume of Whitefield’s sermons. The thunder 
and the lightning are all gone. 

Nevertheless, to read a celebrated sermon is like 
visiting the scene of some great transaction in history. Es- 
pecially profitable for preachers is the reading of the ser- 
mons by the sons of thunder of the pulpit of the past. The 
noblest passion on earth, preaching is also a great art. All 
the glory and romance of the Christian pulpit rises before 
us as we read the utterances of the prophets of God who 
have reasoned with men of righteousness and temperance 
and judgment to come. 





INTRODUCTION il 


In compiling this volume of sermons I have drawn 
upon every period of Christian preaching, from the days 
of the apostles down to the present time. I have included 
also an example of Old Testament eloquence. 

The general rule followed has been to select the famous 
preachers of the different periods. It is true that some- 
times the great preachers were not great sermonizers. But 
however admirable a sermon may be, it can hardly be called 
one of the world’s great sermons unless spoken by one of 
the great preachers of the day. This has made my task 
much easier than it would otherwise have been, for none 
will question the rank of the preachers whose sermons 
appear in this volume. At the end of the volume are three 
sermons by contemporary preachers. To choose contem- 
porary preachers is a much more difficult task than to select 
the famous preachers of yesterday. Yet I am confident 
that the three contemporary preachers will at once be rec- 
ognized as among the masters of the pulpit to-day. 

In preparing this volume I have received very helpful 
suggestions from my friend and former instructor, the Rev. 
Frederick W. Loetscher, D.D., LL.D., professor of ecclesi- 


astical history in Princeton Theological Seminary. 


Contents 


Introduction Ley ahs 
The Sermon on the Mount 
Isaiah, Chapters 63-64 
The Sermon Which Won Five Thousand Souls . 


Ghristiand the Churchy 3°) 47 ohimewe. Clement 
The Greatness of St. Paul . St. John Chrysostom 
SeromeneViTCINSuy. 29 palin dave ick Ot. AUGUSTINE 
The Meeting of Mercy and Justice 

The Venerable Bede 
Taking Up the Cross . . . Thomas a Kempis 
DEUOLepHem aw meee een Mie al Martin Luther 
Poduting persecution 4 caso John Galvin 


Funeral Oration for Louis Bourbon, Prince of 


Condé . . .  . James Benigné Bossuet 
superedcemer s+-Pears nc ty Sohn Howe 
Man Created in God’s Image . . Robert South 
The Blessed Dead . .  . Jonathan Edwards 
fone aredt ASSIZE. fy ote or ek Sonn i esley 
Mesentamoe ep ots h. George Whitefald 
~The General Resurrection. . . Samuel Davies 
Glo ious Displays of Gospel Grace . Rowland Hill 
The Christian Missionary . . . Robert Hall 





CONTENTS 


Page 
The Triumph of Calvary ... Christmas Evans (399 
The Sin of Duelling or the Death of Alexander 
Flamiltons 0) say 4 .) Eliphalet WN otha 


The Expulsive Power of a New Affection 
Thomas Chalmers 339 
Preparation for Consulting the Oracles of God 
Edward Irving 359 


Stewardship . .  . Charles Grandison Finney 379 
The Religion of the Day . John Henry Newman 397 
Whe Second Chance... ....s. Horace Bushnell VATS 
Sins and Sorrows of the City. . Thomas Guthrie 431 
Future Punishment. . . Henry Ward Beecher 451 


Selfishness, as Shown in Balaam’s Character 
Frederick W. Robertson 469 
The First Five Minutes After Death 
Henry Parry Liddon 481 


Spared! . . .  . Charles Haddon Spurgeon 495) 
The Candle of the Lord. . .. Phillips Brooksa sia 
The Letter and the Spirit... .. (Francis L. Patton oa 


Attaining Eternal Life . Reginald John Campbell 557 
The Power of the Gospel George Campbell Morgan 67D 


The Sermon on the Mount 


Digitized by the Internet Archive — 
in 2022 with funding from 
Princeton Theological Seminary Library 


https://archive.org/details/greatsermonsofwo00maca 


The Sermon on the Mount 


dom of heaven. 
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be com- 
forted. 

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after right- 
eousness: for they shall be filled. 

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called 
the children of God. 

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteous- 
ness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute 
you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for 
my sake. 

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward 
in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were 
before you. 

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost 
his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth 
good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden 
under foot of men. 

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an 
hill cannot be hid. 

Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, 
but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in 
the house. 

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see 


3 


B acm of are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the king- 


4 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


your good works, and glorify your Father which is in 
heaven. 

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the 
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 

For verily I say unto you, Jill heaven and earth pass, 
one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till 
all be fulfilled. 

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least com- 
mandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the 
least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and 
teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom 
of heaven. 

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall 
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye 
shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. 

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, 
Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in 
danger of the judgment: 

But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his 
brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: 
and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in 
danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, 
shall be in danger of hell fire. 

Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there 
rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 

Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; 
first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer 
thy gift. . 

Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in 
the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver 
thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, 
and thou be cast into prison. 





THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 5 


Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come 
out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. 

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, 
Thou shalt not commit adultery: 

But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman 
to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already 
in his heart. 

And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast 
it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy 
members should perish, and not that thy whole body should 
be cast into hell. 

And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it 
from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy mem- 
bers should perish, and not that thy whole body should be 
cast into hell. 

It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, 
let him give her a writing of divorcement : 

But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his 
wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to 
commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is 
divorced committeth adultery. 

Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of 
old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform 
unto the Lord thine oaths: 

But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; 
for it is God’s throne: 

Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by 
Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 

Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou 
canst not make one hair white or black. 

But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: 
for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. 





6 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, 
and a tooth for a tooth: 

But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whoso- 
ever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the 
other also. 

And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away 
thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. 

And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with 
him twain. 

Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would 
borrow of thee turn not thou away. 

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love 
thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that 
curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for 
them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in 
heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the 
good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 

For if ye love them which love you, what reward have 
ye? do not even the publicans the same? 

And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more 
than others? do not even the publicans so? 

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in 
heaven is perfect. 

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be 
seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father 
which is in heaven. 

Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound 
a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the syna- 
gogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. 
Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 





‘THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 7 


But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know 
what thy right hand doeth: 

That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which 
seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. 

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypo- 
crites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues 
and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of 
men. Verily I say unto you, [They have their reward. 

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and 
when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is 
in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward 
thee openly. 

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the 
heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their 
much speaking. 

Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father 
knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. 

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which 
art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is 
in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread. 

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from 
evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the 
glory, for ever. Amen. 

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly 
Father will also forgive you: 

But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will 
your Father forgive your trespasses. 

Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a 
sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they 





8 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They 
have their reward. 

But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash 
thy face; 

That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy 
Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in 
secret, shall reward thee openly. 

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where 
moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break 
through and steal: 

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where 
neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do 
not break through nor steal: 

For where your treasure is, there will you heart be also. 

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye 
be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 

But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of 
darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, 
how great is that darkness! 

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate 
the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, 
and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your 
life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for 
your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than 
meat, and the body than raiment? 

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither 
do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly 
Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto 
his stature? 

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 9 


lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do 
they spin: ‘ 

And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his 
glory was not arrayed like one of these. 

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which 
to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not 
much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 

Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? 
or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be 
clothed? 

(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for 
your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these 
things. 

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteous- 
ness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the 
morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufh- 
cient unto the day is the evil thereof. 

Judge not, that ye be not judged. 

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: 
and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to 
you again. 

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s 
eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 

Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out 
the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine 
own eye? 

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own 
eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out 
of thy brother’s eye. 

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast 
ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under 
their feet, and turn again and rend you. 





10 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; 
knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh 
findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, 
will he give him a stone? 

Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto 
your children, how much more shall your Father which is 
in heaven give good things to them that ask him? 

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men 
should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law 
and the prophets. 

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and 
broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many 
there be which go in thereat: 

Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which 
leadth unto life, and few there be that find it. 

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s 
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather 
grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 

Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but 
a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 

A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a 
corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 

Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn 
down, and cast into the fire. 

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall 
enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will 
of my Father which is in heaven. 

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 11 


not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out 
devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 

And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: 
depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, 
and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which 
built his house upon a rock: 

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the 
winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for 
it was founded upon a rock. 

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and 
doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which 
built his house upon the sand: 

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the 
winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great 
was the fall of it. 





Isaiah, Chapters 63-64 





Isaiah, Chapters 63-64 


HO is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed 
garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his 
apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? 

I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. 

Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy gar- 
ments like him that treadeth in the winefat? 

I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people 
there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, 
and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be 
sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. 
For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of 
my redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was none 
to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: 
therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my 
fury, it upheld me. And I will tread down the people in 
mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will 
bring down their strength to the earth. 

I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, and the 
praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath be- 
stowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of 
Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his 
mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkind- 
nesses. For he said, Surely they are my people, children 
that will not lie: so he was their Saviour. In all their afflic- 
tion he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved 
them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them and he 
bare them, and carried them all the days of old. 

But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore 
he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them. 
Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, 


15 





16 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WoRLD 


saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea 
with the shepherd of his flock ? where is he that put his holy 
Spirit within him? That led them by the right hand of 
Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before 
them, to make himself an everlasting name? That led 
them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, that 
they should not stumble?. As a beast goeth down into the 
valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest; so didst 
thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name. 

Look down from heaven, and behold from the habita- 
tion of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and 
thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies 
toward me? are they restrained? Doubtless thou art our 
father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel ac- 
knowledge us not: thou, O Lord, art our father, our re- 
deemer; thy name is from everlasting. O Lord, why hast 
thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart 
from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of 
thine inheritance. The people of thy holiness have pos- 
sessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden 
down thy sanctuary. We are thine: thou never barest rule 
over them: they were not called by thy name. 

Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou 
wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down 
at thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire 
causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine 
adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! 
When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, 
thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy pres- 
ence. For since the beginning of the world men have not 
heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, 
O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that 
waiteth for him. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and work- 





IsAIAH, CHAPTERS 63—64 17 


eth righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: 
behold thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is con- 
tinuance, and we shall be saved. But we are all as an un- 
clean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; 
and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, 
have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon 
thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee; for 
thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, be- 
cause of our iniquities. 

But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, 
and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. 
Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity 
for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. 
Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jeru- 
salem a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house, 
where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and 
all our pleasant things are laid waste. Wilt thou refrain 
thyself for these things, O Lord? wilt thou hold thy peace, 
and afflict us very sore? 


ras ! 


ie 3 F 
of Mae 
ne 





The Sermon Which Won Five Thousand Souls 


Aue Hin . 


, 


a? 





The Sermon Which Won Five Thousand Souls 


ST. PETER’Ss SERMON AT -PENTECOST—THE AcTs 2:14-39 


FE men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell in Jerusalem, 

be this known unto you, and hearken to my words; for 

these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but 
the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken 
by the prophet Joel: 


‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith 
God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and 
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your 
young men shall see visions, and your old men shall 
dream dreams; and on my servants and on my hand- 
maidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and 
they shall prophesy. And I will shew wonders in 
heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, 
and fire, and vapor of smoke. ‘The sun shall be turned 
into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that 
great and notable day of the Lord come; and it shall 

~ come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of 


the Lord shall be saved.”’ 


Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, 
a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders 
and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye 
yourselves also know,—him, being delivered by the deter- 
minate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, 
and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God 
hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it 
was not possible that he should be holden of it. For David 
speaketh concerning him: 


“T foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he 
is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. 


21 


a2 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was 
glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope; because 
thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou 
suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast 
made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make 
me full of joy with thy countenance.” 


Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the 
patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his 
sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore, being a 
prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath 
to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, 
he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he, seeing this 
before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul 
was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. ‘This 
Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 
Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and 
having received of the Father the promise of the Holy 
Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. 
For David is not ascended into the heavens; but he saith 
himself, 


‘The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right 
hand until I make thy foes thy footstool.” 


Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly, 
that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have cruci- 
fied, both Lord and Christ. 

Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name 
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive 
the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, 
and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as 
many as the Lord our God shall call. 


Christ and the Church 


CLEMENT 


HE most ancient example of Christian preaching, 
outside the New ‘Testament, is the so-called Second 
Epistle of Clement, addressed to the Church at Corinth. 
As the reader will see, this epistle is in reality a sermon 
addressed to “brothers and sisters.’”’ Clement of Rome 
was one of the great figures of the early Church, and may 
have been that Clement to whom Paul refers in the letter 
to the Philippians as his “faithful fellow laborer.” He is 
accounted one of the apostolic Fathers and the second or 
third bishop of Rome. Eusebius makes him bishop of 
Rome from A.D. 92 to 101. From this Clement we have 
an Epistle to the Corinthians which is of very great im- 
portance as an early witness to the great Christian doc- 
trines, such as the Trinity, the Atonement and Justification 
by grace. But the Second Epistle to the Corinthians attrib- 
uted to Clement of Rome is regarded as a forgery. Some 
preacher or writer wished to give currency to his produc- 
tion by the weight of Clement’s name. Yet the Epistle, 
in reality, the sermon, is of immense interest to the Church 
today as the oldest known specimen of post-apostolic 
preaching. Its somewhat commonplace utterances throb 
with life because they are to us the earliest accents of the 
Christian pulpit. In this sermon the preacher quotes two 
sayings of Christ which were evidently current at that time, 
but of which there is no record in the New Testament. 
This first of Christian sermons shows how the preach- 
er’s themes,—God, Christ, the Soul, Judgment, Heaven 
and Hell,—do not change from age to age and how the 
Christ preached by this unknown preacher in the early 
morning of Christianity is the same as the Christ preached 
today—Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. 


23 





Christ and the Church 
W:: ought to think highly of Christ. Brethren, it 


is fitting that you should think of Jesus Christ as 

of God,—as the Judge of the living and the dead. 

And it does not become us to think lightly of our salvation; 
for if we think little of Him, we shall also hope but to ob- 
tain little from Him. And those of us who hear carelessly 
of these things, as if they were of small importance, commit 
sin, not knowing whence we have been called, and by whom, 
and to what place, and how much Jesus Christ submitted to 
suffer for our sakes. What return, then, shall we make to 
Him? or what fruit that shall be worthy of that which He 
has given to us? For, indeed, how great are the benefits 
which we owe to Him! He has graciously given us light; 
as a Father, He has called us sons; He has saved us when 
we were ready to perish. What praise, then, shall we give 
to Him, or what return shall we make for the things which 
we have received? We were deficient in understanding, 
worshipping stones and wood, and gold, and silver, and 
brass, the works of men’s hands; and our whole life was 
nothing else than death. Involved in blindness, and with 
such darkness before our eyes, we have received sight, and 
through His will have laid aside that cloud by which we 
were enveloped. For He had compassion on us, and merci- 
fully saved us, observing the many errors in which we were 
entangled, as well as the destruction to which we were ex- 
posed, and that we had no hope of salvation except it came 
to us from Him. For He called us when we were not, and 
willed that out of nothing we should attain a real existence. 
True confession of Christ. Let us, then, not only call 
Him Lord, for that will not save us.. For He saith, ‘“‘Not 


7>e) 





26 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


everyone that saith to Me, Lord, Lord, shall be saved, but 
he that worketh righteousness.’”’ Wherefore, brethren, let 
us confess Him by our works, by loving one another, by not 
committing adultery, or speaking evil of one another, or 
cherishing envy; but being continent, compassionate, and 
good. We ought also to sympathize with one another, and 
not be avaricious. By such works let us confess Him, and 
not by those that are of an opposite kind. And it is not 
fitting that we should fear men, but rather God. For this 
reason, if we should do such wicked things, the Lord hath 
said, ‘Even though ye were gathered together to Me in 
My very bosom, yet if ye were not to keep My command- 
-ments, I would cast you off, and say unto you, Depart from 
Me; I know not whence ye are, ye workers of iniquity.” 
This world should be despised. Wherefore, brethren, 
leaving willingly our sojourn in this present world, let us 
do the will of Him that called us, and not fear to depart out 
of this world. For the Lord saith, ‘Ye shall be as lambs 
in the midst of wolves.’’ And Peter answered and said unto 
Him, “‘What, then, if the wolves shall tear in pieces the 
lambs?’’ Jesus said unto Peter, ‘“The lambs have no cause 
after they are dead to fear the wolves; and in like manner, 
fear not ye them that kill you, and can do nothing more 
unto you; but fear Him who, after you are dead, has power 
over both soul and body to cast them into hell-fire.’ And 
consider, brethren, that the sojourning in the flesh in this 
world is but brief and transient, but the promise of Christ 
is great and wonderful, even the rest of the kingdom to 
come, and of life everlasting. By what course of conduct, 
then, shall we attain these things, but by leading a holy and 
righteous life, and by deeming these worldly things as not 
belonging to us, and not fixing our desires upon them? For 





CHRIST AND THE CHURCH 27 


if we desire to possess them, we fall away from the path of 
righteousness. 

The present and future worlds are enemies to each 
other. Now the Lord declares, ‘‘No servant can serve two 
masters.” If we desire, then, to serve both God and mam- 
mon, it will be unprofitable for us. ‘For what will it profit 
if a man gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” 
This world and the next are two enemies. The one urges 
to adultery and corruption, avarice and deceit; the other 
bids farewell to these things. We cannot therefore be the 
friends of both; and it behoves us, by renouncing the one, to 
make sure of the other. Let us reckon that it is better to 
hate the things present, since they are trifling, and transient, 
and corruptible; and to love those which are to come, as 
being good and incorruptible. For if we do the will of 
Christ, we shall find rest; otherwise, nothing shall deliver 
us from eternal punishment, if we disobey His command- 
ments. For thus also saith the Scripture in Ezekiel, “If 
Noah, Job, and Daniel should rise up, they should not de- 
liver their children in captivity.” Now, if men so eminently 
righteous are not able by their righteousness to deliver their 
children, how can we hope to enter into the royal residence 
of God unless we keep our baptism holy and undefiled? Or 
who shall be our advocate, unless we be found possessed of 
works of holiness and righteousness ? 

We must strive in order to be crowned. Wherefore, 
then, my brethren, let us struggle with all earnestness, know- 
ing that the contest is in our case close at hand, and that 
many undertake long voyages to strive for a corruptible re- 
ward; yet all are not crowned, but those only that have 
laboured hard and striven gloriously. Let us therefore so 
strive, that we may all be crowned. Let us run the straight 
course, even the race that is incorruptible; and let us in 





28 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


great numbers set out for it, and strive that we may be 
crowned. And should we not all be able to obtain the 
crown, let us at least come near to it. We must remember 
that he who strives in the corruptible contest, if he be found 
acting unfairly, is taken away and scourged, and cast forth 
from the lists. What then think ye? For of those who do 
not preserve the seal unbroken, the Scripture saith, ‘“Their 
worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and 
they shall be a spectacle to all flesh.” 

The necessity of repentance while we are on earth. As 
long, therefore, as we are upon earth, let us practise re- 
pentance, for we are as clay in the hand of the artificer. For 
as the potter, if he make a vessel, and it be distorted or 
broken in his hands, fashions it over again; but if he have 
before this cast it into the furnace of fire, can no longer find 
any help for it; so let us also, while we are in this world, 
repent with our whole heart of the evil deeds we have done 
in the flesh, that we may be saved by the Lord, while we 
have yet an opportunity of repentance. For after we have 
gone out of the world, no further power of confessing or 
repenting will there belong to us. Wherefore, brethren, by 
doing the will of the Father, and keeping the flesh holy, and 
observing the commandments of the Lord, we shall obtain 
eternal life. For the Lord saith in the Gospel, “If ye have 
not kept that which was small, who will commit to you the 
great? For I say unto you, that he that is faithful in that 
which is least, is faithful also in much.’ ‘This, then, is what 
He means: ‘“‘Keep the flesh holy and the seal undefiled, that 
ye may receive eternal life.” 

We shall be judged in the flesh. And let no one of you 
say that this very flesh shall not be judged, nor rise again. 
Consider ye in what state ye were saved, in what ye received 
sight, if not while ye were in this flesh. We must therefore 


CHRIST AND THE CHURCH 29 


preserve the flesh as the temple of God. For as ye were 
called in the flesh, ye shall also come to be judged in the 
flesh. As Christ the Lord who saved us, though He was 
first a Spirit, became flesh, and thus called us, so shall we 
also receive the reward in this flesh. Let us therefore love 
one another, that we may all attain to the kingdom of God, 
While we have an opportunity of being healed, let us yield 
ourselves to God that healeth us, and give to Him a rec- 
ompense. Of what sort? Repentance out of a sincere 
heart; for He knows all things beforehand, and is ac- 
quainted with what is in our hearts. Let us therefore give 
Him praise, not with the mouth only, but also with the 
heart, that He may accept us as sons. For the Lord has 
said, ‘““[Those are My brethren who do the will of My 
Father.” 

Vice is to be forsaken, and virtue followed. Wherefore, 
my brethren, let us do the will of the Father who called us, 
that we may live; and let us earnestly follow after virtue, 
but forsake every wicked tendency which would lead us into 
transgression; and flee from ungodliness, lest evils overtake 
us. For if we are diligent in doing good, peace will follow 
us. On this account, such men cannot find it, 7. e., peace, as 
are influenced by human terrors, and prefer rather present 
enjoyment to the promise which shall afterwards be ful- 
filled. For they know not what torment present enjoyment 
incurs, or what felicity is involved in the future promise. 
And if, indeed they themselves only did such things, it would 
be the more tolerable; but now they persist in imbuing in- 
nocent souls with their pernicious doctrines, not knowing 
that they shall receive a double condemnation, both they 
and those that hear them. 

We ought to serve God, trusting in His promises. Let 
us therefore serve God with a pure heart, and we shall be 





30 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


righteous; but if we do not serve Him, because we believe 
not the promise of God, we shall be miserable. For the 
prophetic word also declares, ‘‘Wretched are those of a 
double mind, and who doubt in their heart, who say, All 
these things have we heard even in the times of our fathers; 
but though we have waited day by day, we have seen none 
of them accomplished. Ye fools! compare yourselves to a 
tree; take, for instance, the vine. First of all it sheds its 
leaves, then the bud appear; after that the sour grape, and 
then the fully-ripened fruit. So, likewise, my people have 
borne disturbances and afflictions, but afterwards shall they 
receive their good things.’”’ Wherefore, my brethren, let 
us not be of a double mind, but let us hope and endure, that 
we also may obtain the reward. For He is faithful who 
has promised that He will bestow on every one a reward 
according to his works. If, therefore, we shall do righteous- 
ness in the sight of God, we shall enter into His kingdom, 
and shall receive the promises, ‘which ear hath not heard, 
nor eye seen, neither have entered into the heart of man.” 

We are constantly to look for the kingdom of God. Let 
us expect, therefore, hour by hour, the kingdom of God in 
love and righteousness, since we know not the day of the 
appearing of God. For the Lord Himself, being asked by 
one when His kingdom would come, replied, ‘“‘When two 
shall be one, and that which is without as that which is 
within, and the male with the female, neither male nor fe- 
male.’’ Now, two are one when we speak the truth one to 
another, and there is unfeignedly one soul in two bodies. 
And “‘that which is without as that which is within” meaneth 
this: He calls the soul “that which is within,” and the body 
‘‘that which is without.’’ As, then, thy body is visible to 
sight, so also let thy soul be manifest by good works. And 
“the male with the female, neither male nor female,” this 


CHRIST AND THE CHURCH 31 


meaneth, that a brother seeing a sister should think nothing 
about her as of a female, nor she think anything about him 
as of a male. If ye do these things, saith He, the kingdom 
of my Father shall come. 

The living Church is the Body of Christ. Wherefore, 
brethren, if we do the will of God our Father, we shall be 
of the first Church, that is, spiritual, that hath been created 
before the sun and moon; but if we do not the will of the 
Lord, we shall be of the scripture that saith, ‘‘My house 
was made a den of robbers.’ So then let us choose to 
be of the Church of life, that we may be saved. I do not, 
however, suppose ye are ignorant that the living Church is 
the body of Christ; for the Scripture saith, ‘God made man, 
male and female.’? ‘The male is Christ, the female is the 
Church. And the Books and the Apostles plainly declare 
that the Church is not of the present, but from the begin- 
ning. For she was spiritual, as our Jesus also was, but was 
manifested in the last days that He might save us. Now 
the Church, being spiritual, was manifested in the flesh of 
Christ, thus signifying to us that, if any of us keep her in 
the flesh and do not corrupt her, he shall receive her again 
in the Holy Spirit: for this flesh is the copy of the spirit. 
No one then who corrupts the copy shall partake of the 
original. This then is what He meaneth, “Keep the flesh, 
that ye may partake of the spirit.” But if we say that the 
flesh is the Church and the spirit Christ, then he that hath 
shamefully used the flesh hath shamefully used the Church. 
Such a one then shall not partake of the spirit, which is 
Christ. Such life and incorruption this flesh can partake of, 
when the Holy Spirit is joined to it. No one can utter or 
speak ‘“‘what the Lord hath prepared” for His elect. 

Faith and love the proper return to God. NowI do not 
think I have given you any light counsel concerning self- 


32 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


control, which if anyone do he will not repent of it, but will 
save both himself and me who counselled him. For it is no 
light reward to turn again a wandering and perishing soul 
that it may be saved. For this is the recompense we have 
to return to God who created us, if he that speaketh and 
heareth both speaketh and heareth with faith and love. Let 
us therefore abide in the things which we believed, righteous 
and holy, that with boldness we may ask of God who saith, 
‘While thou art yet speaking, I will say, Lo, I am here.” 
For this saying is the sign of a great promise; for the Lord 
saith of Himself that He is more ready to give than he 
that asketh to ask. Being therefore partakers of so great 
kindness, let us not be envious of one another in the obtain- 
ing of so many good things. For as great as is the pleasure 
which these sayings have for them that have done them, so 
great is the condemnation they have for them that have 
been disobedient. 

The excellence of almsgiving. Wherefore, brethren, 
having received no small occasion for repentance, while we 
have the opportunity, let us turn unto God that called us, 
while we still have Him as One that receiveth us. For if 
we renounce these enjoyments and conquer our soul in not 
doing these its evil desires, we shall partake of the mercy of 
Jesus. But ye know that the day of judgment even now 
‘cometh as a burning oven,” and some “‘of the heavens shall 
melt,’’ and all the earth shall be as lead melting on the fire, 
and then the hidden and open works of men shall appear. 
Almsgiving therefore is a good thing, as repentance from 
sin; fasting is better than prayer, but almsgiving than both; 
“but love covereth a multitude of sins.” But prayer out of 
a good conscience delivereth from death. Blessed is every- 
one that is found full of these; for almsgiving lighteneth the 
burden of sin. 





CHRIST AND THE CHURCE 33 


The danger of impenitence. Let us therefore repent 
from the whole heart, that no one of us perish by the way. 
For if we have commandments that we should also practise 
this, to draw away men from idols and instruct them, how 
much more ought a soul already knowing God not to perish! 
Let us therefore assist one another that we may also lead 
up those weak as to what is good, in order that all may 
be saved; and let us convert and admonish one another. 
And let us not think to give heed and believe now only, 
while we are admonished by the presbyters, but also when 
we have returned home, remembering the commandments 
of the Lord; and let us not be dragged away by worldly 
lusts, but coming more frequently let us attempt to make 
advances in the commandments of the Lord, that all being 
of the same mind we may be gathered together unto life. 
For the Lord said, “I come to gather together all the na- 
tions, tribes, and tongues.”’ This He speaketh of the day 
of His appearing, when He shall come and redeem us, each 
one according to his works. And the unbelievers ‘‘shall see 
His glory,” and strength; and they shall think it strange 
when they see the sovereignty of the world in Jesus, saying, 
Woe unto us, Thou wast He, and we did not know and did 
not believe, and we did not obey the presbyters when they 
declared unto us concerning our salvation. And “their worm 
dieth not, and their fire is not quenched, and they shall be 
for a spectacle unto all flesh.”” He speaketh of that day of 
judgment, when they shall see those among us that have 
been ungodly and acted deceitfully with the commandments 
of Jesus Christ. But the righteous who have done well and 
endured torments and hated the enjoyments of the soul, 
when they shall behold those that have gone astray and 
denied Jesus through their words or through their works, 
how that they are punished with grievous torments in an 





34 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


unquenchable fire, shall be giving glory to God, saying, 
There will be hope for him that hath served God with his 
whole heart. 

The Preacher confesseth his own sinfulness. Let us 
also become of the number of them that give thanks, that 
have served God, and not of the ungodly that are judged. 
For I myself also, being an utter sinner, and not yet escaped 
from temptation, but still being in the midst of the engines 
of the devil, give diligence to follow after righteousness, 
that I may have strength to come even near it, fearing the 
judgment to come. 

He justifieth his exhortation. Wherefore, brethren and 
sisters, after the God of truth hath been heard, I read to 
you an entreaty that ye may give heed to the things that 
are written, in order that ye may save both yourselves and 
him that readeth among you. For as a reward I ask of 
you that ye repent with the whole heart, thus giving to 
yourselves salvation and life. For by doing this we shall 
set a goal for all the young who are minded to labour on 
behalf of piety and the goodness of God. And let us not, 
unwise ones that we are, be affronted and sore displeased, 
whenever some one admonisheth and turneth us from in- 
iquity unto righteousness. For sometimes while we are 
practising evil things we do nOt perceive it on account of 
the double-mindedness and unbelief that is in our breasts, 
and we are “darkened in our understanding” by our vain 
lusts. Let us then practise righteousness that we may be 
saved unto the end. Blessed are they that obey these 
ordinances. Even if for a little time they suffer evil in the 
world, they shall enjoy the immortal fruit of the resurrec- 
tion. Let not then the godly man be grieved, if he be 
wretched in the times that now are; a blessed time waits 





CHRIST AND THE CHURCH 35 


for him. He, living again above with the fathers, shall be 
joyful for an eternity without grief. 

Concluding word of consolation. Doxology. But 
neither let it trouble your understanding, that we see the 
unrighteous having riches and the servants of God strait- 
ened. Let us therefore, brethren and sisters, be believing; 
we are striving in the contest of the living God, we are 
exercised by the present life, in order that we may be 
crowned by that to come. No one of the righteous received 
fruit speedily, but awaiteth it. For if God gave shortly 
the recompense of the righteous, straightway we would be 
exercising ourselves in business, not in godliness; for we 
would seem to be righteous, while pursuing not what is 
godly but what is gainful. And on this account Divine 
judgment surprised a spirit that was not righteous, and 
loaded it with chains. 

To the only God invisible, the Father of truth, who sent 
forth to us the Saviour and Prince of incorruption, through 
whom also He manifested to us the truth and the heavenly 
life, to Him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. 





The Greatness of St. Paul 





ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM 


S* JOHN CHRYSOSTOM (the Golden-mouthed ) 
is, after the Apostles, the most famous preacher in the 
history of Christianity. He was born at Antioch in 347 
and died in Pontus in 407. He commenced the study of 
rhetoric and showed great promise for the future, but 
through the pious endeavours of his mother, Anthusa, he 
embraced Christianity and retired to the desert, where he 
spent ten years in meditation and self-denial. After this 
he became a deacon and then a presbyter at Antioch. He 
soon attracted attention as a preacher, and_ especially 
through a series of sermons on the Statues, delivered at a 
time when the Emperor Theodosius was contemplating 
severe reprisals against the populace of Antioch where his 
Statues had been destroyed in a riot. 

As Archbishop of Constantinople, he preached boldly 
against the policies of the Empress Eudoxia. His uncom- 
promising attitude towards the court and the licentious 
and avaricious ecclesiastics made him the victim of an ec- 
clesiastical conspiracy, and he was condemned for contu- 
macy by the synod called by his foes, and taken to Bithynia. 
The popular fury was so great that the Emperor had him 
recalled. But he was soon sent into exile again and, after 
being carried about from place to place, expired on his way 
to the desert of Pityus. 

His sermons are for the most part expository, or running 
comments upon the text of a passage in the Bible. In this 
way he covered large portions of the New Testament. He 
had a wide range and could strike every note in the human 
breast. One of the noblest specimens of his eloquence 
‘s his last homily on the Epistle to the Romans. It is not 
only one of the finest examples of patristic eloquence, but 
perhaps the greatest tribute that has ever been paid to 
St. Paul. 


37 


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The Greatness of St. Paul 


HO is there then to pray over us, since Paul hath 
departed? ‘These who are the imitators of Paul. 

Only let us yield ourselves worthy of such interces- 

sion that it may not be that we hear Paul’s voice here only, 
but that hereafter, when we are departed, we may be 
counted worthy to see the wrestler of Christ. Or rather, if 
we hear him here, we shall certainly see him hereafter, if 
not as standing near him, yet see him we certainly shall, 
glistening near the Throne of the king. Where the Cheru- 
bim sing the glory, where the Seraphim are flying, there 
shall we see Paul, with Peter, and as a chief and leader of 
the choir of the Saints, and shall enjoy his generous love. 
For if when here he loved men so, that when he had the 
choice of departing and being with Christ he chose to be 
here, much more will he there display a warmer affection. 
I love Rome even for this, although indeed one has 
other grounds for praising it, both for its greatness, and 
its antiquity, and its beauty, and its populousness, and for 
its power, and its wealth, and for its successes in war. But 
I let all this pass, and esteem it blessed on this account, 
that both in his lifetime he wrote to them, and loved them 
so, and talked with them while he was with us, and brought 
his life to a close there. Wherefore the city is more notable 
upon this ground, than upon all others together. And asa 
body great and strong, it hath as two glistening eyes the 
bodies of these Saints. Not so bright is the heaven, when 
the sun sends forth his rays, as is the city of Rome, sending 
out these two lights into all parts of the world. From thence 
will Paul be caught up, from thence Peter. Just bethink 
you, and shudder at the thought of what a sight Rome will 


39 





40 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


see, when Paul ariseth suddenly from that deposit, together 
with Peter, and is lifted up to meet the Lord. What a rose 
will Rome send up to Christ! what two crowns will the city 
have about it! what golden chains will she be girded with! 
what foundations possess! ‘Therefore I admire the city, 
not for the much gold, not for the columns, not for the 
other display there, but for these pillars of the Church. 
Would that it were now given me to throw myself round 
the body of Paul, and be riveted to the tomb, and to see the 
dust of that body that “filled up that which was lacking” 
after ‘‘Christ,’’ that bore “‘the marks,’’ that sowed the Gos- 
pel everywhere, yea, the dust of that body through which 
he ran to and fro everywhere! the dust of that body through 
which Christ spoke, and the Light shone forth more bril- 
liant than any lightning, and the voice started out, more 
awful than any thunder to the devils! through which he 
uttered that blessed voice, saying, ‘‘I could wish that myself 
were accursed, for my brethren,” through which he spake 
‘before kings and was not ashamed!” through which we 
come to know Paul, through which also Paul’s Master! 
Not so awful to us is the thunder, as was that voice to the 
demons! For if they shuddered at his clothes, much more 
did they at his voice. ‘This led them away captive, this 
cleansed out the world, this put a stop to diseases, cast out 
vice, lifted the truth on high, had Christ riding upon it, and 
everywhere went about with Him; and what the Cherubim 
were, this was Paul’s voice, for as He was seated upon those 
Powers, so was He upon Paul’s tongue. For it had become 
worthy of receiving Christ, by speaking those things only 
which were acceptable to Christ, and flying as the Seraphim 
to height unspeakable! for what more lofty than that voice 
which says, ‘For I am persuaded that neither Angels, nor 
Principalities, nor Powers, nor things present, nor things 





THE GREATNESS OF ST. PAUL 4] 


to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall 
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in 
Christ Jesus?’ What pinions doth not this discourse seem 
to thee to have? what eyes? It was owing to this that he 
said, “for we are not ignorant of his devices.’’ Owing to 
this did the devils flee not only at hearing him speak, but 
even at seeing his garments. 

This is the mouth, the dust whereof I would fain see, 
through which Christ spake the great and secret things, and 
greater than in His own person (for as He wrought, so 
He also spake greater things by the disciples), through 
which the Spirit gave those wondrous oracles to the world! 
For what good thing did not that mouth effect? Devils it 
drave out, sins it loosed, tyrants it muzzled, philosophers’ 
mouths it stopped, the world it brought over to God, sav- 
ages it persuaded to learn wisdom, all the whole order of 
the earth it altered. “Uhings in Heaven too it disposed what 
way it listed, binding whom it would, and loosing in the 
other world, “‘according unto the power given unto it.”’ 

Nor is it that mouth only, but the heart too I would 
fain see the dust of, which a man would not do wrong to 
call the heart of the world, and a fountain of countless 
blessings, and a beginning and element of our life. For the 
spirit of life was furnished out of it all, and was distributed 
through the members of Christ, not as being sent forth by 
arteries, but by a free choice of good deeds. This heart was 
so large, as to take in entire cities, and peoples, and na- 
tions. ‘For my heart” he says, “is enlarged.’ Yet even a 
heart thus large, did this charity that enlarged it many a 
time straiten and oppress. For he says, ‘Out of much 
affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you.” I were 
desirous to see that heart even after its dissolution, which 
burned at each one that was lost, which travailed a second 





42 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


time with the children that had proved abortions, which 
saw God (“for the pure in heart,’’ He says, “shall see 
God’’), which became a Sacrifice (‘‘for a sacrifice to God 1s 
a contrite heart’), which was loftier than the heavens, 
which was wider than the world, which was brighter than 
the sun’s beam, which was warmer than fire, which was 
stronger than adamant, which sent forth rivers (‘for 
rivers,’ it says, ‘‘of living water shall flow out of his 
belly”), wherein was a fountain springing up, and water- 
ing, not the face of the earth, but the souls of men, whence 
not rivers only, but even fountains of tears, issued day and 
night, which lived the new life, not this of ours (for “I 
live,” he says, “‘yet not I, but Christ liveth in me,” so Paul’s 
heart was His heart, and a tablet of the Holy Spirit, and a 
book of grace) ; which trembled for the sins of others (for 
I fear, he says, lest by any means “I have bestowed labor 
upon you in vain; lest as the serpent beguiled Eve; lest when 
I come I should find you not such as I would”’) ; which both 
feared for itself, and was confiding too (for I fear, he says, 
‘lest by any means after having preached to others I myself 
should be a castaway.’ And, “I am persuaded that neither 
angels nor powers shall be able to separate us’’); which 
was counted worthy to love Christ as no other man loved 
Him; which despised death and hell, yet was broken down 
by brothers’ tears (for he says, “‘what mean ye to weep and 
to break mine heart?’’) ; which was most enduring, and yet 
could not bear to be absent from the Thessalonians by the 
space of an hour! 

Fain would I see the dust of hands that were in a chain, 
through the imposition of which the Spirit was furnished, 
through which the divine writings were written (for “‘be- 
hold how large a letter I have written unto you with mine 
own hand,” and again, ‘“The salutation of me Paul with 


THE GREATNESS OF ST. PAUL 43 


mine own hand’’) ; of those hands at the sight of which the 
serpent ‘‘fell off into the fire.” 

Fain would I see the dust of those eyes which were 
blinded gloriously, which recovered their sight again for the 
salvation of the world; which even in the body were counted 
worthy to see Christ, which saw earthly things, yet saw 
them not, which saw the things which are not seen, which 
saw not sleep, which were watchful at midnight, which were 
not affected as our eyes are. 

I would also see the dust of those feet, which ran 
through the world and were not weary; which were bound 
in the stocks when the prison shook, which went through 
parts habitable or uninhabited, which walked on so many 
journeys. 

And why need I speak of single parts? Fain would I 
see the tomb, where the armor of righteousness is laid up, 
the armor of light, the limbs which now live, but which in 
life were made dead; and in all whereof Christ lived, which 
were crucified to the world, which were Christ’s members, 
which were clad in Christ, were a temple of the Spirit, an 
holy building, ‘bound in the Spirit,” riveted to the fear of 
God, which had the marks of Christ. This body is a wall 
to that City, which is safer than all towers, and than thous- 
ands of battlements. And with it is that of Peter. For he 
honored him while alive. For he ‘“‘went up to see Peter’’ 
and therefore even when departed grace deigned to give 
him the same abode with him. 

Fain would I see the spiritual Lion. For as a lion 
breathing forth fire upon the herds of foxes, so rushed he 
upon the clan of demons and philosophers, and as the burst 
of some thunderbolt was borne down into the host of the 
devil. For he did not even come to set the battle in array 
- against him, since he feared so and trembled at him, as that 





44 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


if he saw his shadow, and heard his voice, he fled even at a 
distance. And so did he deliver over to him the fornicator, 
though at a distance, and again snatched him out of his 
hands; and so others also, that they might be taught “not to 
blaspheme.”’ And consider how he sent forth his own liege- 
men against him, rousing them, supplying them. And at 
one time he says to the Ephesians, ‘‘We wrestle not against 
flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers.” 
Then too he puts our prize in heavenly places. For we 
struggle not for things of the earth, he says, but for Heaven, 
and the things in the Heavens. And to others, he says, 
‘Know ye not that we shall judge Angels? how much more 
the things of this life?” 

Let us then, laying all this to heart, stand nobly; for 
Paul was a man, partaking of the same nature with us, and 
having everything else in common with us. But because he 
showed such great love toward Christ, he went up above the 
Heavens, and stood with the Angels. And so if we too 
would rouse ourselves up some little, and kindle in ourselves 
that fire, we shall be able to emulate that holy man. For 
were this impossible, he would never have cried aloud, and, 
said, ““Be ye imitators of me, as I am of Christ.’’ Let us 
not then ‘admire him only, or be struck with him only, but 
imitate him, that we too may, when we depart hence, be 
counted worthy to see him, and to share the glory unutter- 
able, which God grant that we may all attain to by the 
grace and love toward man of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
through Whom, and with Whom, be glory to the Father, 
with the Holy Ghost, now and evermore. Amen. 


The Ten Virgins 





SAINT AUGUSTINE 


AINT AUGUSTINE is one of the greatest names 
in the history of the Christian Church. He was a 
brand plucked from the burning, like Paul himself, a 
mighty trophy of the Holy Spirit. He was born at 
Tagaste, Africa, on the 13th of November, 354, and died 
at Hippo, Africa, August 28th, 430. His father was a 
pagan, but his mother, Monica, was a Christian of won- 
derful beauty of character and depth of faith. As a youth 
Augustine was trained for the career of a rhetorician. He 
lived in sin witha girl who bore him a son, to whom 
he was deeply devoted, and to whom he gave the name, 
Adeodatus, Given by God. During these years of licen- 
tious living his faithful mother never ceased to pray and 
strive for his conversion, and it was to her that the bishop 
of Tagaste made the celebrated remark, which has com- 
forted so many anxious mothers, that “a son of so many 
tears cannot be lost.” 

When he was following his profession of a rhetorician 
at Milan, Augustine came under the influence of Ambrose, 
bishop of Milan, and was moved towards the Christian 
life. But he was so enmeshed in sensuality that he shrank 
from the sacrifice which a confession of faith involved. 
After intense spiritual struggles, graphically described in 
his “Confessions,” Augustine at last found Christ and 
peace. In 396 he was made bishop of the see of Hippo, 
in North Africa. Henceforth he becomes one of the great 
figures of the church of that age, indeed, of all ages. His 
powerful mind poured out a series of books, the greatest 
of which is the “City of God,” a vast work in which he 
attempts to vindicate Christianity and conceives the church 
as a new and divine order rising out of the ruins of the 
Roman Empire. He engaged in many controversies, the 
most important of which was the controversy with Pelagius 
and the Pelagians. Against Pelagius, who held that 


45 





46 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


Adam’s sin was purely personal and affected only himself, 
Augustine held the doctrine of Original Sin, that men 
inherit from Adam a sinful nature, and so are under con- 
demnation. Augustine is claimed by all schools in the 
Christian church, and both Catholic and Protestant take 
him as, next to St. Paul, the great teacher concerning the 
meaning of sin and the state of human nature. 

His sermon on “The Ten* Virgins” is an interesting 
treatment of one of the great themes of the pulpit, the 
Second Advent of Christ. Especially beautiful are its clos- 
ing words: “Our lamps flicker amid the winds and temp- 
tations of this life; but only let our flame burn strongly, 
that the wind of temptation may increase the fire, rather 
than put it out.” 


The Ten Virgins 


Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten 
virgins” (Matt. 25:1). 


FE, who were present yesterday remember my promise; 
which with the Lord’s assistance is to be made good 
today, not to you only, but to the many others also who 
have come together. It is no easy question, who the ten 
virgins are, of whom five are wise, and five foolish. Never- 
theless, according to the context of this passage which | 
have wished should be read again to you today, Beloved, I 
do not think, as far as the Lord vouchsafes to give me 
understanding, that this parable or similitude relates to 
those women only who by a.peculiar and more excellent 
sanctity are called Virgins in the Church, whom by a more 
usual term we are wont also to call, ‘‘the Religious; but 
if I mistake not this parable relates to the whole Church. 
But though we should understand it of those only who are 
called ‘‘the Religious,” are they but ten? God forbid that 
so great a company of virgins should be reduced to so 
small a number! But perhaps one may say, “But what if 
though they be so many in outward profession, yet in truth 
they are so few, that scarce ten can be found!” It is not 
so. For if he had meant that the good virgins only should 
be understood by the ten, He would not have represented 
five foolish ones among them. For if this is the number 
of the virgins which are called, why are the doors of the 
great house shut against five? 
So then let us understand, dearly Beloved, that this 
parable relates to us all, that is, to the whole Church 
together, not to the Clergy only of whom we spoke yester- 


47 





48 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


day; nor to the laity only; but generally to all. Why then 
are the Virgins five and five? These five and five virgins 
are all Christian souls together. But that I may tell you 
what by the Lord’s inspiration I think, it is not souls of 
every sort, but such souls as have the Catholic faith, and 
seem to have good works in the Church of God; and yet 
even of them, ‘‘five are wise and five are foolish.” First 
then let us see why they are called ‘‘five,” and why “‘virgins,” 
and then let us consider the rest. Every soul in the body is 
therefore denoted by the number five, because it makes use 
of five senses. For there is nothing of which we have per- 
ception by the body,-but by the five folded gate, either by 
the sight, or the hearing, or the smelling, or the tasting, or 
the touching. Whoso then abstaineth from unlawful see- 
ing, unlawful hearing, unlawful smelling, unlawful tasting, 
and unlawful touching, by reason of his uncorruptness hath 
gotten the name of virgin. 

But if it be good to abstain from the unlawful excite- 
ments of the senses, and on that account every Christian 
soul has gotten the name of virgin; why are five admitted 
and five rejected? ‘They are both virgins, and yet are re- 
jected. It is not enough that they are virgins; and that 
they have lamps. ‘They are virgins, by reason of abstinence 
from unlawful indulgence of the senses; they have lamps, 
by reason of good works. Of which good works the Lord 
saith, ‘Let your works shine before men, that they may 
see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in 
heaven.” Again He saith to His disciples, ‘Let your loins 
be girded and your lamps burning.” In the “girded loins” 
is virginity; in the “burning lamps” good works. 

The title of virginity is not usually applied to married 
persons; yet even in them there is a virginity of faith, which 
produces wedded chastity. For that you may know, Holy 


THE TEN VIRGINS 49 


Brethren, that every one, every soul, as touching the soul, 
and that uncorruptness of faith by which abstinence from 
things unlawful is practised, and by which good works are 
done, is not unsuitably called ‘‘a virgin; the whole Church 
which consists of virgins, and boys, and married men and 
married women, is by one name called a Virgin. Whence 
prove we this? Hear the Apostle saying, not to the reli- 
gious women only but to the whole Church together; “I 
have espoused you to One Husband, that I may present you 
as a chaste virgin to Christ.’’ And because the devil, the 
corrupter of this virginity, 1s to be guarded against, after 
the Apostle had said, ‘“‘I have espoused you to one husband, 
that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ;’’ he 
subjoined, ‘‘But I fear, lest as the serpent beguiled Eve 
through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted 
from the simplicity that is in Christ.” Few have virginity 
in the body; in the heart all ought to have it. If then 
abstinence from what is unlawful be good, whereby it has 
received the name of virginity, and good works are praise- 
worthy, which are signified by the lamps; why are five ad- 
mitted and five rejected? If there be a virgin, and one who 
carries lamps, who yet is not admitted; where shall he see 
himself, who neither preserveth a virginity from things un- 
lawful, and who not wishing to have good works walketh 
in darkness? 

Of these then, my Brethren, yea, of these let us the 
rather treat. He who will not see what is evil, he who will 
not hear what is evil, he that turneth away his smell from 
the unlawful fumes, and his taste from the unlawful food 
of the sacrifices, he who refuseth the embrace of another 
man’s wife, breaketh his bread to the hungry, bringeth the 
stranger into his house, clotheth the naked, reconcileth the 
litigious, visiteth the sick, burieth the dead; he surely is a 





50 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


virgin, surely he hath lamps. What seek we more? Some- 
thing yet I seek. What seekest thou yet, one will say? 
Something yet I seek; the Holy Gospel hath set me on the 
search. It hath said that even of these, virgins, and carry- 
ing lamps, some are wise and some foolish. By what do 
we see this? By what make the distinction? By the oil. 
Some great, some exceedingly great thing doth this oil 
signify. Thinkest thou that it is not charity? ‘This we say 
as searching out what it is; we hazard no precipitate judg- 
ment. I will tell you why charity seems to be signified by 
the oil. The Apostle says, “I show unto you a way above 
the rest. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of 
Angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding 
brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” ‘This, that is “charity,’’ is 
‘‘that way above the rest,” which is with good reason signi- 
fied by the oil. For oil swims above all liquids. Pour in 
water, and pour in oil upon it, the oil will swim above. 
Pour in oil, pour in water upon it, the oil will swim above. 
If you keep the usual order, it will be uppermost; if you 
change the order, it will be uppermost. ‘Charity never 
faileth.” 

What is it then, Brethren? Let us treat now of the five 
wise and the five foolish virgins. “Chey wished to go to meet 
the Bridegroom. What is the meaning of “‘to go and meet 
the Bridegroom’? ‘To go with the heart, to be waiting for 
his coming. But he tarried. ‘While he tarries, they all 
slept.’’ What is “all”? Both the foolish and the wise, 
‘‘all slumbered and slept.” ‘Think we is this sleep good? 
What is this sleep? Is it that at the tarrying of the Bride- 
groom, “because iniquity aboundeth, the love of many wax- 
eth cold’? Are we to understand this sleep so? I like it 
not. I will tell you why. Because among them are the 
wise virgins; and certainly when the Lord said, ‘‘Because 





THE TEN VIRGINS 51 


iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold;” 
he went on to say, ‘But he that shall endure unto the end, 
the same shall be saved.’ Where would ye have those wise 
virgins be? Are they not among those that “shall endure 
unto the end’? They would not be admitted within at all, 
Brethren, for any other reason, than because they have 
‘endured unto the end.’ No coldness of love then crept 
over them, in them love did not wax cold; but preserves its 
glow even unto the end. And because it glows even unto 
the end, therefore are the gates of the Bridegroom opened 
to them; therefore are they told to enter in, as that excellent 
servant, “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” What 
then is the meaning of they “‘all slept??? There is another 
sleep which no one escapes. Remember ye not the Apostle 
saying, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, 
concerning them which are asleep,” that is, concerning them 
which are dead? For why are they called “they which are 
asleep,’ but because they are in their own day? There- 
fore “they all slept.’ Thinkest thou that because one is 
wise, he has not therefore to die? Be the virgin foolish, or 
be she wise, all suffer equally the sleep of death. 

But men continually say to themselves, “‘Lo, the day of 
judgment is coming now, so many evils are happening, so 
many tribulations thicken; behold all things which the 
Prophets have spoken, are well-nigh fulfilled; the day of 
judgment is already at hand.” They who speak thus, and 
speak in faith, go out as it were with such thoughts to 
‘meet the Bridegroom.” But, lo! war upon war, tribula- 
tion upon tribulation, earthquake upon earthquake, famine 
upon famine, nation against nation, and still the Bride- 
groom comes not yet. Whilst then He is expected to come, 
all they who are saying, ‘“‘Lo, He is coming, and the Day of 
Judgment will find us here,” fall asleep. Whilst they are 





52 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


saying this, they fall asleep. Let each one then have an eye 
to this his sleep, and persevere even unto his sleep in love; 
let sleep find him so waiting. For suppose that he has 
fallen asleep. ‘‘Will not He who falls asleep afterwards 
rise again?’ Therefore ‘“‘they all slept;’’ both of the wise 
and the foolish virgins in the parable, it is said, ‘they all 
slept.” 

“To, at midnight there was a cry made.”’ What is “at 
midnight”? When there is no expectation, no belief at all 
of it. Night is put for ignorance. A man makes as it were 
a calculation with himself: “Lo, so many years have passed 
since Adam, and the six thousand years are being completed, 
and then immediately according to the computation of cer- 
tain expositors, the Day of Judgment will come;”’ yet these 
calculations come and pass away, and still the coming of the 
Bridegroom is delayed, and the virgins who had gone to 
meet him sleep. And, lo, when He is not looked for, when 
men are saying, ‘“The six thousand years were waited for, 
and, lo, they are gone by, how then shall we know when He 
will come?’ He will come at midnight. What is, “will 
come at midnight’? Will come when thou art not aware. 
Why will He come when thou art not aware of it? Hear 
the Lord Himself, “It is not for you to know the times or 
the seasons which the Lord hath put in His own power.” 
‘The day of the Lord,” says the Apostle, ‘‘will come as a 
thief in the night.” Therefore watch thou by night that 
thou be not surprised by the thief. For the sleep of death— 
will ye, or nill ye—it will come. 

“But when that cry was-made at midnight.’ What 
cry was this, but that of which the Apostle says, ‘In the 
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump”? ‘For the trumpet 
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and 
we shall be changed.” And so when the cry was made at 





THE TEN VIRGINS 53 


midnight, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; what fol- 
lows? ‘Then all those virgins arose.’ What is, ‘““They” 
all arose? ‘‘The hour will come,” said the Lord Himself, 
‘‘when all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and 
shall come forth.’”’ ‘Therefore at the last trumpet they all 
arose. ‘‘Now those wise virgins had brought oil with them 
in their vessels; but the foolish brought no oil with them.”’ 
What is the meaning of “brought no oil with them in their 
vessels’? What is “in their vessels’? In their hearts. 
Whence the Apostle says, “Our glorying is this, the testi- 
mony of our conscience.’ ‘There is the oil, the precious oil; 
this oil is of the gift of God. Men can put oil into their 
vessels, but they cannot create the olive. See, I have oil; 
but didst thou create the oil? It is of the gift of God. 
Thou hast oil. Carry it with thee. What is “carry it with 
thee’? Have it within, there please thou God. 

‘For, lo, those “foolish virgins, who brought no oil with 
them,” wish to please men by that abstinence of theirs 
whereby they are called virgins, and by their good works, 
when they seem to carry lamps. And if they wish to please 
men, and on that account do all these praiseworthy works, 
they do not carry oil with them. Do you then carry it with 
thee, carry it within where God seeth; there carry the testi- 
mony of thy conscience. For he who walks to gain the 
testimony of another, does not carry oil with him. If thou 
abstain from things unlawful, and doest good works to be 
praised of men; there is no oil within. And so when men 
begin to leave off their praises, the lamps fail. Observe 
then, Beloved, before those virgins slept, it is not said that 
their lamps were extinguished. The lamps of the wise 
virgins burned with an inward oil, with the assurance of a 
good conscience, with an inner glory, with an inmost charity. 


Yet the lamps of the foolish virgins burned also. Why 





54 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


burnt they then? Because there was yet no want of the 
praises of men. But after that they arose, that is in the 
resurrection from the dead, they began to trim their lamps, 
that is, began to prepare to render unto God an account of 
their works. And because there is then no one to praise, 
every man is wholly employed in his own cause, there is no 
one then who is not thinking of himself, therefore were 
there none to sell them oil; so their lamps began to fail, and 
the foolish betook themselves to the five wise, ‘‘Give us of 
your oil, for our lamps are going out.” They sought for 
what they had been wont to seek for, to shine that is with 
others’ oil, to walk after others’ praises. ‘Give us of your 
oil, for our lamps are going out.” 

But they say, ““Not so, lest there be not enough for us 
and you, but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for 
yourselves.” ‘This was not the answer of those who give 
advice, but of those who mock. And why mock they? Be- 
cause they were wise, because wisdom was in them. For 
they were not wise by ought of their own; but that wisdom 
was in them, of which it is written in a certain book, she 
shall say to those that despised her, when they have fallen 
upon the evils which she threatened them; “‘I will laugh over 
your destruction.’ What wonder then is it, that the wise 
mock the foolish virgins? And what is this mocking? 

‘Go ye to them that sell, and buy for, yourselves:” ye 
who never were wont to live well, but because men praised 
you, who sold you oil. What means this, ‘sold you oil’? 
‘Sold praises.’”’ Who sell praises, but flatterers? How 
much better had it been for you not to have acquiesced in 
flatterers, and to have carried oil within, and for a good © 
conscience-sake to have done all good works; then might 
ye say, ‘The righteous shall correct me in mercy, and re- 
prove me, but the oil of the sinner shall not fatten my head.” 





THE TEN VIRGINS 55 


Rather, he says, let the righteous correct me, let the right- 
eous reprove me, let the righteous buffet me, let the right- 
ous correct me, than the “oil of the sinner fatten mine 
head.’ What is the oil of the sinner, but the blandishments 
of the flatterer? 

“Go ye’ then ‘“‘to them that sell,” this have ye been 
accustomed to do. But we will not give to you. Why? 
“Lest there be not enough for us and you.”’ What is, “‘lest 
there be not enough’’? This was not spoken in any lack of 
hope, but in a sober and godly humility. For though the 
good man have a good conscience; how knows he, how He 
may judge who is deceived by no one? He hath a good 
conscience, no sins conceived in the heart solicit him, yet, 
though his conscience be good, because of the daily sins of 
human life, he saith to God, “forgive us our debts;’’ seeing 
he hath done what comes next, ‘‘as we also forgive our 
debtors.”’ He hath broken his bread to the hungry from 
the heart, from the heart hath clothed the naked; out of 
that inward oil he hath done good works, and yet in that 
judgment even his good conscience trembleth. 

See then what this, ‘‘Give us oil,” is. They were told 
“Go ye rather to them that sell.” In that ye have been 
used to live upon the praises of men, ye do not carry oil with 
you; but we can give you none; “‘lest there be not enough 
for us and you.’ For scarcely do we judge of ourselves, 
how much less can we judge of you?) What is “scarcely do 
we judge of ourselves’? Because, “When the righteous 
King sitteth on the throne, who will glory that his heart is 
pure?’ It may be thou dost not discover anything in thine 
own conscience; but He who seeth better, whose Divine 
glance penetrateth into deeper things, discovereth it may be 
something, He seeth it may be something, He discovereth 
something. How much better mayest thou say to Him, 





56 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


“Enter not into judgment with Thy servant?” Yea, how 
much better, ‘‘Forgive us our debts?’ Because it shall be 
also said to thee because of those torches, because of those 
lamps; “I was hungry, and ye gave Me meat.’”’ What then? 
did not the foolish virgins do so too? Yea, but they did it 
not before Him. How then did they do it? As the Lord 
forbiddeth, who said, ‘“Take heed that ye do not your 
righteousness before men to be seen of them, otherwise ye 
have no reward of your Father which is in heaven; and 
when ye pray, be not as the hypocrites, for they love to 
pray, standing in the streets, that they may be seen of men. 
Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward.” 
They have bought oil, they have given the price; they have 
bought it, they have not been defrauded of men’s praises, 
they have sought men’s praises, and have had them. These 
praises of men aid them not in the judgment day. But the 
other virgins, how have they done? “Let your works shine 
before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify 
your Father which is in heaven.’ He did not say, ‘‘may 
glorify you.’ For thou hast no oil of thine own self. Boast 
thyself and say, I have it; but from Him, “for what hast 
thou that thou hast not received?’ So then in this way 
acted the one, and in that the other. 

Now it is no wonder, that ‘‘while they are going to buy,”’ 
while they are seeking for persons by whom to be praised, 
and find none; while they are seeking for persons by whom 
to be comforted, and find none; that the door is opened, 
that ‘‘the Bridegroom cometh,” and the Bride, the Church, 
glorified then with Christ, that the several members may be 
gathered together into their whole. “And they went in with 
Him into the marriage, and the door was shut.’’ Then the 
foolish virgins came afterwards; but had they bought any 
oil, or found any from whom they might buy it?. Therefore 





THE TEN VIRGINS 57 


they found the doors shut; and they began to knock, but 
too late. 

It is said, and it is true, and no deceiving saying, ‘“‘Knock, 
and it shall be opened unto you;”’ but now when it is the time 
of mercy, not when it is the time of judgment. For these 
times cannot be confounded, since the Church sings to her 
Lord of “mercy and judgment.”’ It is the time of mercy; 
repent. Canst thou repent in the time of judgment? Thou 
wilt be then as those virgins, against whom the door was 
shut. ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.”’ What! did they not repent 
that they had brought no oil with them? Yes, but what 
profiteth them their late repentance, when the true wisdom 
mocked them? ‘Therefore “the door was shut.’’ And what 
was said to them? “I know you not.” Did not He know 
them, who knoweth all things? What then is, “I know you 
not?” Irefuse, I reject you. In my art I do not acknowl- 
edge you, my art knoweth not vice; now this is a marvellous 
thing, it doth not know vice, and it judgeth vice. It doth not 
know it in the practice of it; it judgeth by reproving it. 
Thus then, “I know you not.” 

The five wise virgins came, and ‘“‘went in.’ How many 
are ye, my Brethren, in the profession of Christ’s Name! 
let there be among you the five wise, but be not five such 
persons only. Let there be among you the five wise, belong- 
ing to this wisdom of the number five. For the hour will 
come, and come when we know not. It will come at mid- 
night, Watch ye. Thus did the Gospel close; “‘Watch, for 
ye know neither the day nor the hour.” But if we are all 
to sleep, how shall we watch? Watch with the heart, watch 
with faith, watch with hope, watch with charity, watch with 
good works; and then, when thou shalt sleep in thy body, 
the time will come that thou shalt rise. And when thou 
shalt have risen, make ready the lamps. Then shall they go 





58 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


out no more, then shall they be renewed with the inner oil of 
conscience; then shall that Bridegroom fold thee in His 
spiritual embrace, then shall He bring thee into His House 
where thou shalt never sleep, where thy lamp can never be 
extinguished. But at present we are in labour, and our 
lamps flicker amid the winds and temptations of this life; 
but only let our flame burn strongly, that the wind of temp- 
tation may increase the fire, rather than put it out. 


The Meeting of Mercy 
and Justice 





THE VENERABLE BEDE 


HE VENERABLE BEDE was born in 672 and 

died in 735. Most of his life was spent in the 
monastery at Jarrow-on-Iyne. His most noted work 
was his “Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation.” 
His last hours were spent in finishing his translation into 
the vernacular of the Gospel of St. John. Unfortunately, 
this work has not survived. 

There is an immense mass of sermons from the middle 
ages, but few of them are available in English. The 
mediaeval preachers had no doubts about heaven, hell, 
the soul and the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. After 
the vagueness of many of our modern sermons it is refresh- 
ing to take up a sermon from the middle ages. 

As will be seen in the sermon by Bede, there was much 
of the story teller’s art in the sermons of these ancient 
preachers. 


59 


i 


he Pats 
ce et i 
; AN ay 
7h 


rie fe 
Saat 
ial 
Te, z 


ia 


i a 
* 


aren gyi 
i ES 
a Spe SEY 
Raby ee 


ne ‘3 a<o 





The Meeting of Mercy and Justice 
“Mercy and truth are met together” (Psa. 85:10). 


HERE was a certain Father of a family, a powerful 
King, who had four daughters, of whom one was 
called Mercy; the second, Truth; the third, Justice; 
the fourth, Peace; of whom it is said, ‘Mercy and Truth 
are met together; Justice and Peace have kissed each 
other.’’ He had also a certain most wise Son, to whom no 
one could be compared in wisdom. He had, also, a certain 
servant, whom he had exalted and enriched with great 
honour; for he had made him after his own likeness and 
similitude, and that without any preceding merit on the ser- 
vant’s part. But the lord, as is the custom with such wis 
masters, wished prudently to explore, and to become ac- 
quainted with, the character and the faith of his servant, 
whether he were trustworthy towards himself or not: so | 
he gave him an easy commandment, and said, “If you do 
what I tell you, I will exalt you to further honours; if not, 
you shall perish miserably.” | 
The servant heard the commandment, and without any 
delay, went and broke it. Why need I say more? Why 
need I delay you by my words and by my tears? This proud 
servant, stiff-necked, full of contumely, and puffed up with 
conceit, sought an excuse for his transgression, and retorted 
the whole fault on his Lord. For when he said, ‘“The 
woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she deceived me,”’ 
he threw all the fault on his Maker. His Lord, more angry 
for such contumelious conduct, than for the transgression 
of his command, called four most cruel executioners, and 
commanded one of them to cast him into prison, another to 


61 





62 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


behead him, the third to strangle him, and the fourth to 
afflict him with grievous torments. By and by, when occa- 
sion offers, I will give you the right name of these tormen- 
tors. 

These torturers, then, studying how they might carry 
out their own cruelty, took the wretched man and began to 
afflict him with all manner of punishments. But one of the 
daughters of the King, by name Mercy, when she had heard 
of this punishment of the servant, ran hastily to the prison, 
and looking in and seeing the man given over to the tor- 
mentors, could not help having compassion upon him, for 
it is the property of Mercy to have mercy. She tore her 
garments and struck her hands together, and let her hair 
fall loose about her neck, and crying and shrieking, ran to 
her father, and kneeling before his feet began to say with an 
earnest and sorrowful voice: ‘‘My beloved father, am not I 
thy daughter Mercy? and art not thou called merciful? If 
thou art merciful, have mercy upon thy servant; and if thou 
wilt not have mercy upon him, thou canst not be called mer- 
ciful; and if thou art not merciful, thou canst not have me, 
Mercy, for thy daughter.” While she was thus arguing 
with her father, her sister Truth came up, and demanded 
why it was that Mercy was weeping. ‘‘Your sister Mercy,” 
replied the father, ‘“‘wishes me to have pity upon that proud 
transgressor whose punishment I have appointed.’ ‘Truth, 
when she heard this, was excessively angry, and looking 
sternly at her father, “‘Am not I,”’ said she, “thy daughter 
Truth? art not thou called true? Is it not true that thou 
didst fix a punishment for him, and threaten him with death 
by torments? If thou art true, thou wilt follow that which 
is true; if thou dost not follow it, thou canst not be true; if 
thou art not true, thou canst not have me, Truth, for thy 
daughter.”’ Here, you see, ‘‘“Mercy and Truth are met 





THE MEETING OF MERCY AND JUSTICE 63 


together.” The third sister, namely, Justice, hearing this 
strife, contention, quarrelling, and pleading, and summoned 
by the outcry, began to inquire the cause from Truth. And 
Truth, who could only speak that which was true, said, 
‘This sister of ours, Mercy, if she ought to be called a sister 
who does not agree with us, desires that our father should 
have pity on that proud transgressor.’’ Then Justice, with 
an angry countenance, and meditating on a grief which she 
had not expected, said to her father, ‘‘Am not I thy daugh- 
ter Justice? art thou not called just? If thou art just, thou 
wilt exercise justice on the transgressor; if thou dost not 
exercise that justice, thou canst not be just; if thou art not 


just, thou canst not have me, Justice, for thy daughter.” ~~ 


So here were Truth and Justice on the one side, and Mercy 
on the other. Peace fled into a far distant country. For 
where there is strife and contention, there is no peace; and 
by how much greater the contention, by so much further 
Peace is driven away. | 

Peace, therefore, being lost, and his three daughters in 
warm discussion, the King found it an extremely difficult 
manner to determine what he should do, or to which side he 
should lean. For, if he gave ear to Mercy, he would offend 
Truth and Justice; if he gave ear to Truth and Justice, he 
could not have Mercy for his daughter; and yet it was 
necessary that he should be both merciful and just, and 
peaceful and true. There was great need then of good ad- 
vice. The Father therefore called his wise Son, and con- 
sulted him about the affair. Said the Son, “Give me, my 
Father, this present business to manage, and I will both 
punish the transgressor for thee, and will bring back to thee 
in peace thy four daughters.” ‘These are great promises,” 
replied the Father, “if the deed only agrees with the word, 








64 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





if thou canst do that which thou sayest, I will act as thou 
shalt exhort me.”’ 

Having therefore received the royal mandate, the Son 
took his sister Mercy along with him, and “leaping upon 
the mountains, passing over the hills,” came to the prison, 
and “looking through the windows, looking through the lat- » 
tice,’ he beheld the imprisoned servant, shut out from the 
present life, devoured of affliction, and “‘from the sole of 
the foot even to the crown there was no soundness in him.” 
He saw him in the power of death, because through him 
death entered into the world. He saw him devoured, be- 
cause, when a man is once dead, he is eaten of worms. And 
because I now have an opportunity of telling you, you shall 
hear the names of the four tormentors. The first, who put 
him in prison, is the Prison of the present life, of which it 
is said, ‘‘Woe is me that I am constrained to dwell in 
Mesech;”’ the second, who tormented him, is the Misery of 
the World, which besets us with all kind of pain and wretch- 
edness: the third, who was putting him to death, is Death, 
which destroys and slays all: the fourth, who was devouring 
him, is the Worm. . . . Therefore the Son, beholding his 
servant given over to these four tormentors, could not but 
have mercy upon him, because Mercy was his companion, 
and bursting into the prison of death, ‘‘conquered death, 
bound the Ie strong man, took his goods,”’ and distributed the 
spoils. nd | ‘ascending up on high, led captivity captive 

—and-gave gifts for men,” and brought back the servant into 
| his Country, crowned with double honour, and endued with 
a garment of immortality. When Mercy beheld this, she 
had no grounds for complaint. Truth found no cause of 
discontent, because her Father was found true. The ser- 
vant had paid all his penalties. Justice in like manner 
complained not, because justice had been executed on the 


THE MEETING OF MERCY AND JUSTICE 65 


transgressor; and thus “he who had been lost was found.”’ 
Peace, therefore, when she saw her sisters at concord, came 
back and united them. And now, behold “Mercy and 
Truth are met together, Justice and Peace have kissed each 
other.” Thus, therefore, by the Mediator of men and 
angels, man was purified and reconciled, and the hundredth 
sheep was brought back to the fold of God. ‘To which fold 
Jesus Christ bring us, to Whom is honour and power ever- 
lasting. Amen. 


Hy rae 
hadi 


hak 
i 


Pa it 


sai i 





Taking Up the Cross 





THOMAS A KEMPIS 


HOMAS A KEMPIS was born in 1381 at Kampen, 

on the shore of the Zuyder Zee, and died at the 
Monastery of Mount St. Agnes, in Zwolle, in 1471. 
Seventy years of his long life were spent at the Augus- 
tinian convent of Mount St. Agnes. It was there he 
produced that immortal classic of the devotional life, 
“’The Imitation of Christ,” which, as Dr. Charles Hodge 
once wrote, ‘“‘has diffused itself like incense through the - 
aisles and the alcoves of the universal Church.” 

His, sermon, ‘“Taking Up the Cross,” is a beautiful and 

eloquent tribute to Christ and the Cross. 


67 


7h 
a 
ot 
1a, 

"ve 


Aes 
ot 4° 
r Fo inas 
eS) 


Fi 


ti» 
is 4 
: rip 
» ? 


* 
. 


Wea: 


Pet or 
. AE ae) 
hs hie ARS 


2 Wiha op 
Ne: Oy At vy « 
cr ee } a) 





Taking Up the Cross 


“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of 
Christ Jesus.” ( Bet-6:/¢7) 


holder of heavenly secrets, sets forth to us in the 

aforesaid words, that the Cross is the right way of 
living well; is the best teaching how to suffer adversity; is 
the firmest ladder whereby we may ascend to heaven by its 
most unconquered sign. It is this which leads its lovers into 
the country of eternal light, of eternal peace, of eternal 
blessedness, which the world cannot give, nor the Devil 
take away. Human frailty abhors the suffering of poverty, 
contempt, vileness, hunger, labour, pain, necessity, derision, 
which all are so often its lot, and which weigh down and 
disturb men. But all these things joined together form by 
their manifold sufferings a salutary Cross, God so ordering 
this dispensation for us; and to the true bearers of the 
Cross they open the gate of the celestial kingdom. To them 
that fight, they prepare the palm of life; to them that con- 
quer, they give the diadem of eternal glory. 

O truly blessed Cross of Christ, which didst bear the 
King of Heaven, and which didst bring to the whole world 
the joy of salvation! By thee the devils art put to flight; 
the weak are cured; the timid are strengthened; the sinful 
are cleansed; the idle are excited; the proud are humbled; 
the hard-hearted are touched; and the devout are bedewed 
with tears. Blessed are they who daily call to mind the 
Passion of Christ, and desire to carry their own cross after 
Christ. Good and religious brethren, who are enrolled 
under obedience, have, in the daily affliction of their body, 


69 


BY tosses o: brethren, blessed Paul, the excellent be- 





70 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





and in the resignation of their own will, a cross which, in its 
outward aspect is heavy and bitter, but which is internally 
full of sweetness, because of the hope of eternal salvation, 
and the affluence of Divine comfort which is promised to 
those that are broken in heart: which, if they do not feel at 
once, or perceive to bestowed upon them by slow degrees, 
nevertheless they ought to expect it with patience, and to 
resign themselves to the Divine Will. For He Himself 
best knows the time of showing mercy, and the method of 
assisting the afflicted, as the physician is best acquainted 
with the art of curing, and the master of the ship with the 
craft of steering. ‘Those that have taken up the Cross in 
their hearts, have great confidence and cause of glorying, 
in the Cross of Jesus Christ, because they confide not, nor 
trust that they shall be saved in their own merits and works, 
but through the mercy of God, and the merits of Christ 
Jesus, crucified for our sins, in Whom they believe faith- 
fully; Whom with their heart they love,—with their mouth 
they confess, praise, preach, honour, and extol. God is 
wont to prove His familiar friends by the holy Cross, 
whether they love Him truly or in pretence, and whether 
they can perfectly observe His commandments. 

Principally, however, they are proved by tolerance of 
injuries, and the removal of internal consolations; by the 
death of friends, and by the loss of property; by pains in 
the head, and injuries in the limbs; by abstinence from food, 
and roughness of garments; by the hardness of their bed, 
and the coldness of their feet; by the long watches of the 
night, and the labours of the day; by the silence of the 
mouth, and the reproofs of superiors; by worms that gnaw, 
and tongues that detract. In their sufferings, however, they 


TAKING UP THE Cross 71 


are consoled by the devout meditation of the Lord’s Pas- 
sion, as many devout persons know very well in their own 
hearts. It is theirs to taste the hidden honey from the rock, 
and the oil of mercy that drops from the blessed wood of 
the holy Cross; whose taste is most delicious; whose odour 
is most sweet; whose touch is most healthy; whose fruit is 
most happy. O most truly worthy and precious Tree of life, 
planted in the midst of the Church for the medicine of the 
soul! O Jesus of Nazareth, Thou That wast crucified for 
us! ‘Thou loosenest the bands of sinners; freest the souls 
of saints; humblest the necks of the haughty; breakest down 
the power of the wicked; comfortest the faithful; puttest 
to flight the unbelievers; deliverest the pious; punishest the 
hardened; overthrowest the adversaries. Thou raisest up 
them that are fallen; Thou settest at liberty them that are 
oppressed; Thou smitest them that do hurt; Thou defendest 
them that are innocent; Thou lovest them that are true; 
Thou hatest them that are false; Thou despisest the carnal; 
Thou hast regard to the spiritual; Thou receivest them that 
come to Thee; Thou hidest them that take refuge in Thee. 
Them that call upon Thee, Thou hearest; them that visit 
Thee, Thou rejoicest; them that seek Thee, Thou helpest; 
them that cry to Thee, Thou strengthenest. “Chou honour- 
est them that honour Thee; Thou praisest them that praise 
Thee; Thou lovest them that love Thee; Thou glorifiest 
them that adore Thee; Thou blessest them that bless Thee; 
Thou exaltest them that exalt Thee. On them that look to 
Thee Thou lookest; them that kiss Thee, Thou kissest; 
them that embrace Thee, Thou embracest; them that follow 
Thee, Thou leadest to heaven. 

O religious brother, why art thou sorrowful, and why 





Wie) GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


dost thou complain of the weight of thy cross, in long vigils; 
in many fasts; in labour and silence; in obedience and strict 
discipline? which things were instituted at the inspiration 
of God, by holy fathers for thy profit, and the salvation of 
thy soul; in order that by them thou mightest walk securely 
and prudently, who canst not govern thyself well and vir- 
tuously. / Dost thou think that without the Cross and with- 
out grief thou canst enter into the kingdom of heaven, when 
Christ neither could nor would, nor did any of His most be- 
loved friends and saints gain from Him such a privilege? 
For he Himself said, ““Ought not Christ to suffer, and so 
enter into His glory?’ Thou art altogether mistaken in 
thy thought: thou attendest not to the footsteps of Christ 
shown to thee; for He, by the Cross, passed from this world 
to His Heavenly Father. Ask whom thou wilt of the vic- 
tors and citizens of the celestial kingdom how he came to 
possess forever this glory of God. Was it not by the Cross 
and by suffering? Well then, brethren, take up the sweet 
and light yoke of the Lord; embrace with all affection the 
holy Cross,—it flowers with all virtues; it is full of celestial 
unction,—to the end that it may lead you without mistake, 
with the hope of glory, to life eternal. 

What will ye more? ‘This is the way, and there is none 
other; the right way, the holy way, the perfect way, the 
way of Christ, the way of the just, the way of the elect that 
shall be saved. Walk in it, persevere in it, endure in it, live 
in it, die in it, breathe forth your spirits in it. The Cross 
of Christ conquers all the machinations of the devil; the 
Cross draws to itself the hearts of all the faithful; the Cross 
destroys all things evil, and confers on us all things good, 
through Jesus Christ, Who hung and died upon it. There 





TAKING Up THE CROSS 73 


is no armour so strong, no arrow so sharp and so terrible, 
against the power and cruelty of the devil, none which he 
so fears as the sign of the Cross, in which he brought to 
pass that the Son of God should be suspended and slain, 
Who was innocent and pure from all spot. O truly blessed 
Cross of Christ, most worthy of all honour, to be embraced 
with all love; that causest those who love thee to bear their 
burdens with ease, that consolest the sorrowful in enduring 
reproaches; that teachest the penitent how to obtain pardon 
for every offence. [his is very honourable to the holy 
Angels; most lovely to men, most terrible to devils; despised 
by the proud, acceptable to the humble; rough to the carnal, 
sweet to the spiritual; insipid to the foolish, delicious to the 
devout; affable to the poor, companionable to the stranger; 
friendly to the afflicted, consolatory to the sick, comfortable 
to the dying. Lay up, therefore, all the sacred Wounds of 
Jesus, in the recesses of your heart; they have a savour be- 
yond all spices to the devout soul that is in affliction, and 
that seeks not consolation from men. 

Follow Christ, Who leads by His Passion and His Cross 
to eternal rest and light; because if ye are now His com- 
panions in tribulation, ye will shortly sit down with Him 
at the heavenly table in perpetual exultation. Plant in the 
garden of your memory, the tree of the holy Cross; it pro- 
duces a very efficacious medicine against all the suggestions 
of the devil. Of this most noble and fertile tree, the root is 
humility and poverty; the bark, labour and penitence; the 
branches, mercy and justice; the leaves, true honour and 
modesty; the scent, sobriety and abstinence; the beauty, 
chastity and obedience; the splendour, right faith and firm 
hope; tHe»strength, magnanimity and patience; the length, 





74 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


long-suffering and perseverance; the breadth, benignity and 
concord; the height, charity and wisdom; the sweetness, 
love and joy; the fruit, salvation and life eternal. Well, 
then, and worthily, sings the Church of the Holy Cross, 


“Faithful Cross, above all other 
One and only noble tree; 
None in foliage, none in blossom 
None in fruit thy peers may be!” 


There was no such plant to be found in the gardens of 
Solomon, no herb so salutary for the curing of all diseases, 
as the tree of the Holy Cross, which bears its spices of 
divine virtue, for the obtaining of human salvation. This 
is that most fruitful tree, blessed above all the trees of Para- 
dise; stretching forth its lovely branches, adorned with 
green leaves, extended with rich fruit through the world; 
by its altitude, touching heaven; by its profundity, pene- 
trating hell; by its extent, surrounding mountains and hills; 
by its magnitude, filling the round world; by its fortitude, 
conquering wicked kings and the persecutors of the faith; 
by its mercy, attracting the weak; by its suavity, healing 
sinners. This is the glorious palm, that is rightly called 
Christiferous, carried on the shoulders of Jesus, set up on 
the mountain of Calvary; condemned by the Jews, set at 
naught by the Gentiles, reviled by the wicked, lamented by 
the faithful, implored by the pious. 

Blessed is the man, faithful is that servant, who per- 
petually carries the Sacred Wounds of Jesus in his heart; 
and, if adversity meets him, receives it as from the Hand 
of God, and piously endures it, that he may at least in some 
degree become conformed to the Crucified. For he is 
worthy to be visited and consoled by Christ, who studies 





TAKING UP THE Cross 75 


fully to conform himself in life and in death to His Passion. 
This is the way of the Holy Cross, this is the doctrine of the 
Saviour, this is the wisdom of saints, this is the rule of 
monks, this the life of the good, this the lection of clerks, 
this the meditation of the devout; to imitate Christ humbly, 
to suffer evil for Christ, to choose the bitter instead of the 
sweet; to despise honours, to bear contempt with equa- 
nimity, to abstain from evil delights; to fly the occasions of 
vice, to avoid dissipation; to lament for our own sins and 
for those of others, to pray for the troubled and the 
tempted, to render thanks for benefactors, to make suppli- 
cation for adversaries that they may be converted; to re- 
joice with them that are in prosperity, to grieve with them 
that suffer injury, to succour the indigent; not to seek high 
things, to choose that which is humble, to love that which 
is simple; to cut off superfluities, to be contented with a 
little, to labour for virtues, to struggle every day against 
vices; to subdue the flesh by fasting, to strengthen the spirit 
by prayer and by reading, to refuse human praise; to seek 
solitude, to love silence, to be at leisure for God; to sigh 
for things celestial, to despise from the heart all that is 
earthly, to think that nothing save God can bring comfort. 
He that does this, may say with blessed Paul the Apostle, 
‘To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.””’ And again: 
“God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified unto me, 
and I unto the world.’ O religious monk and follower of 
the stricter life, depart not from the Cross which thou hast 
taken up; but bear it and carry it with thee even to death; 
and thou shalt find eternal rest, and celestial glory and 
honour. When any tribulation meets thee, it is Christ Who 
lays His Cross upon thee, and shows thee the way by which 





76 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


thou must go to the heavenly kingdom. But if any one 
boasts himself and hopes in the glories and in the honours 
of this world, he is truly deceived, and he will carry with 
him nothing at all of that which he has been accustomed to 
love inthe world. But he who boasts himself in Christ, and 
despises all things for the sake of Christ, he shall be con- 
soled by Christ in the present life, and in the life to come 
shall be filled with celestial blessings, and shall felicitiously 
rejoice with Christ and with all saints, world without end. 
Which Jesus Christ vouchsafe to grant us, Who for us 
suffered and died upon the Cross; to Whom be praise and 
glory, to ages of ages. Amen. 


St. Stephen 





MARTIN LUTHER 


ARTIN LUTHER was born on November 10th, 
1483, at Eisleben and died there on February 18, 
1546. After a high school training at Eisenach and a 
college training at Erfurt, where he took his bachelor’s 
degree, Luther went as a teacher to the new University 
of Wittenberg. On All Saints’ Day, 1517, he nailed his 
“Ninety-Five Theses” to the doors of the Cathedral at 
Wittenberg and thus inaugurated the mighty protest of the 
Reformation. On October 16, 1521, before the Diet of 
Worms, he took his stand for the great Protestant prin- 
ciple, the supremacy of the Scriptures. Luther was pre- 
eminently a man of genius and all his work—teaching, 
preaching, debating, pamphleteering, translating and 
hymn-writing,—shows the mark of genius. If in the 
Protestant Church the pulpit is the throne of the preacher 
and pastor, Luther did much to make it so. He himself 
was an indefatigable and popular preacher, a Boanerges in 
every sense of the word. Much of the power of great 
speakers and preachers is due to the unusual occasion. 
Luther preached in a time of tremendous excitement and 
his violent denunciations and burning conviction reflect the 
spirit of the times. For readers today his sermons are 
somewhat marred by their invective and denunciation. But 
in the midst of these violent philippics one comes upon 
exquisite passages of Christian teaching. His homiletical 
plan he summed up in three rules: “Get up freshly, open 
your mouth widely, be done quickly.” 

In his moving sermon on Stephen, Luther makes effec- 
tive use of the beautiful idea, borrowed from St. Augus- 
tine, that the prayer of the dying martyr for those who 
stoned him was the means of the conversion of St. Paul. 


77 


t A ‘ 
M Y Sth oi 
hie 


s 
7 





St. Stephen 


HE epistle text seems to be not at all difficult; it is 

plain. It presents in Stephen an example of the faith 

of Christ. Little comment is necessary. We shall 
examine it briefly. ‘The first principle it teaches is, we can- 
not secure the favor of God by erecting churches and other 
institutions. Stephen makes this fact plain in his citation 
from Isaiah. 

We must not, however, be led to conclude it is wrong to 
build and endow churches. But it is wrong to go to the 
extreme of forefeiting faith and love in the effort, presum- 
ing thereby to do good works meriting God’s favor. It 
results in abuses precluding all moderation. Every nook 
and corner is filled with churches and cloisters, regardless of 
the object of church-building. 

There is no other reason for building churches than to 
afford a place where Christians may assemble to pray, to 
hear the Gospel and to receive the sacraments; if indeed 
there is a reason. When churches cease to be used for these 
purposes they should be pulled down, as other buildings are 
when no longer of use. As it is now, the desire of every 
individual in the world is to establish his own chapel or 
altar, even his own mass, with a view of securing salvation, 
of purchasing heaven. 

Is it not a miserable, a deplorable, error and delusion to 
teach innocent people to depend on their works to the great 
disparagement of their Christian faith? Better to destroy 
all the churches and cathedrals in the world, to burn them 
to ashes—it is less sinful even when done through malice— 
than to allow one soul to be misled and lost by such error. 
God has given no special command in regard to the building 


79 


80 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


of churches, but he has issued his commands in reference to 
our souls—his real and peculiar churches. Paul says con- 
cerning them: “Ye are a temple of God. . . . If any man 
destroyeth the temple of God, him shall God destroy.” 

I continue to assert that for the sake of exterminating 
the error mentioned, it would be well to overthrow at once 
all the churches in the world, and to utilize ordinary dwell- 
ings or the open air for preaching, praying and baptizing, 
and for all Christian requirements. 

Especially is there justification for so doing because 
of the worthless reason the Papists assign for building 
churches. Christ preached for over three years, but only 
three days in the temple at Jerusalem. ‘The remainder of 
the time he spoke in the schools of the Jews, in the wilder- 
ness, on the mountains, in ships, at the feasts and otherwise 
in private dwellings. John the Baptist never entered the 
temple; he preached by the Jordan River and in all places. 
The apostles preached in the market-place and streets of 
Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Philip preached in a 
chariot to the eunuch. Paul preached to the people by the 
riverside; in the Philippian jail and in various private dwell- 
ings. In fact, Christ commanded the apostles to preach in 
private houses. I presume the preachers mentioned were 
equally good with those of today. 

You see now some reason why lightning strikes the 
costly Papist churches more frequently than it does other 
buildings. Apparently the wrath of God especially rests 
upon them because there greater sins are committed, more 
blasphemies uttered and greater destruction of souls and of 
churches wrought than take place in brothels and in thieves’ 
dens. ‘The keeper of a public brothel is less a sinner than 
’ the preacher who does not deliver the true Gospel, and the 
brothel is not so bad as the false preacher’s Church. Even 





St. STEPHEN 81 


were the proprietor of the brothel daily to prostitute vir- 
gins, godly wives and nuns, awful and abominable as such 
action would be, he would not be any worse nor would he 
work more harm than those papistical preachers. 

Does this astonish you? Remember, the false preacher’s 
doctrine effects nothing but daily to lead astray and to vio- 
late souls newly born in baptism—young Christians, tender 
souls, the pure, consecrated virgin brides of Christ. Since 
the evil is wrought spiritually, not bodily, no one observes 
it; but God is beyond measure displeased. In his wrath he 
cries, through the prophets, in unmistakable terms, ‘Thou 
harlot who invitest every passer-by!’’ So little can God 
tolerate false preaching, Jeremiah in his prayer makes this 
complaint, ““They ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in 
the cities of Judah.” Now, spiritual virginity, the Chris- 
tian faith, is immeasurably superior to bodily purity; for it 
alone can obtain heaven. 

Let us, therefore, beloved friends, be wise; wisdom is 
essential. Let us truly learn we are saved through faith 
in Christ and that alone. ‘This fact has been made suff- 
ciently manifest. “Then let no one rely upon his own works. 
Let us in our lifetime engage only in such works as shall 
profit our neighbors, being indifferent to testament and insti- 
tution, and direct our efforts to bettering the full course of 
our neighbors’ lives. 

It is related of a pious woman, St. Elizabeth, that once 
upon entering a cloister and seeing on the wall a fine paint- 
ing portraying the sufferings of our Lord, she exclaimed: 
‘The cost of this painting should have been saved for the 
sustenance of the body; the sufferings of Christ are to be 
painted on your hearts.’”’ How forcibly this godly utter- 
ance is directed against the things generally regarded 
precious! Were St. Elizabeth so to speak today, the Papists 





82 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


assuredly would burn her for blaspheming against the suffer- 
ings of Christ and for condemning good works. She 
would be denounced as a heretic, though her merits were to 
surpass the combined merits of ten saints. 

Stephen not only rejects the conceptions of the Jews in 
regard to churches and their erection, but also denounces 
all their works, saying they have received the Law by the 
disposition of angels and have not kept it. So the Jews in 
return reprove Stephen as if he had spoken against the 
temple and, further, blasphemed the law of Moses and 
would teach strange works. True, Stephen could not rightly 
have charged them with failure to observe the Law, so far 
as external works are considered. For they were circum- 
cised, and observed the rules in regard to meats, apparel 
and festivals, and all Moses’ commands. It was their con- 
sciousness of having observed the Law that led them to 
stone him. 

But Stephen’s words were prompted by the same spirit 
that moved Paul when he said that by the deeds of the Law 
no one is justified in the sight of God, faith alone being the 
justifier. Where the Holy Spirit is not present to grant 
grace, man’s heart cannot favor the Law of God; it would 
prefer the Law did not exist. Every individual is conscious 
of his own apathy and disinclination toward what is good, 
and of his readiness to do evil. As Moses says, ‘“The imag- 
ination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”’ 

When Stephen declares the Jews always resist the Holy 
Spirit, he means to imply that through their works they be- 
come presumptuous, are not inclined to accept the Spirit’s 
aid and are unwilling their works be rejected as ineffectual. 
Ever working and working to satisfy the demands of the 
Law, but without fulfilling its least requirement, they re- 
main hypocrites to the end. Unwilling to embrace the faith 





St. STEPHEN 83 


whereby they would be able to accomplish good works, and 
the grace of the Spirit that would create a love for the 
Law, they make impossible the free, spontaneous observ- 
ance of it. But the voluntary observer of the Law, and no 
other, God accepts. 

Stephen calls the Jews “‘stiffnecked, uncircumcised in 
heart and ears’’ because they refuse to listen and under- 
stand. They continually cry, ““Good works, good works! 
Law, Law!” though not effecting the least thing themselves. 
Just so do our Papists. As their forefathers did, so do the 
descendants, the mass of this generation; they persecute the 
righteous and boast it is done for the sake of God and his 
Law. Now we have the substance of this lesson. But let 
us examine it a little further. 

First, we see in Stephen’s conduct love toward God and 
man. He manifests his love to God by earnestly and se- 
verely censuring the Jews, calling them betrayers, murderers 
and transgressors of the whole Law, yes, stiffnecked, and 
saying they resist the fulfilment of the Law and resist also 
the Holy Spirit himself. More than that, he calls them 
“uncircumcised in heart and ears.’ How could he have 
censured them any more severely? So completely does he 
strip them of very creditable thing, it would seem as if he 
were moved by impatience and wrath. 

But whom today would the world tolerate were he to 
attempt such censure of the Papists? Stephen’s love for 
God constrained him to his act. No one who possesses 
the same degree of love can be silent and calmly permit the 
rejection of God’s commandments. He cannot dissemble. 
He must censure and rebuke every opposer of God. Such 
conduct he cannot permit even if he risks his life to rebuke 
it. 

We must infer from Stephen’s example that he who 





84 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





silently ignores the transgression of God’s commands, or 
any sin, has no love for him. Then how is it with the hypo- 
crites who applaud transgression? and with calumniators 
and those who laugh and eagerly listen to and speak about 
the faults of others? 

We have just had occasion to state that Stephen was a 
layman, an ordinary Christian, not a priest. But the 
Papists sing his praises as a Levite, who read the epistle or 
the Gospel lesson at the altar. The Papists, however, per- 
vert the truth entirely. It is necessary for us, therefore, to © 
know what Luke says. He tells how the Christians in the 
inception of the Church, at Jerusalem, made all their posses- 
sions common property and the apostles distributed to each 
member of the congregation as he needed. But, as it hap- 
pened, the widows of the Grecian Jews were not provided 
for as were the Hebrew widows; hence arose complaint. 
The apostles, seeing how the duty of providing for these 
things would be so burdensome as to interfere in a measure 
with their duties of praying and preaching, assembled the 
multitude of the disciples and said: “It is not fit that we 
should forsake the Word of God, and serve tables. Look 
ye out therefore, brethren, from among you seven men of 
good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may 
appoint over this business. But we will continue steadfastly 
in prayer, and in the ministry of the word.” 

So Stephen, in connection with six others, was chosen 
to distribute the goods. Thence comes the word ‘‘deacon,”’ 
servant or minister. For these men served the congrega- 
tion, ministering to their temporal wants. 

Plainly, then, Stephen was a steward, or an administra- 
tor and guardian of the temporal goods of the Christians; 
his duty was to administer them to those in need. In 
course of time his office was perverted into that of a priest 


St. STEPHEN 85 


who reads the epistle and Gospel lessons. The only trace 
left of Stephen’s office is the slight resemblance found in 
the duty of the nuns’ provosts, and in that of the adminis- 
trators of hospitals and of the guardians of the poor. The 
readers of the epistle and Gospel selections should be, not 
the consecrated, the shorn, the bearers of dalmatics and 
brushers of flies at the altar, but ordinary godly laymen 
who keep a record of the needy and have charge of the 
common fund for distribution as necessity requires. Such 
was the actual office of Stephen. He never dreamed of 
reading epistles and Gospels, or of bald pates and dalmatics. 
Those are all human devices. 

As to the question that may arise whether an ordinary 
layman may be allowed to preach: Though Stephen was not 
appointed to preach—the apostles, as stated, reserved that 
office to themselves—but to perform the duties of a steward, 
yet when he went to the market-place and mingled among 
the people, he immediately created a stir by performing 
signs and wonders, as the epistle says, and he even censured 
the rulers. Had the Pope and his followers been present, 
they certainly would have inquired as to his credentials— 
his Church passport and his ecclesiastical character; and had 
he been lacking a bald pate and a prayer-book, undoubtedly 
he would have been committed to the flames as a heretic 
since he was not a priest nor a clergyman. These titles, 
which the Scriptures accord all Christians, the Papists have 
appropriated to themselves alone, terming all other men 
“the laity,” and themselves ‘“‘the Church,” as if the laity 
were not a part of the Church. At the same time these 
people of boasted refinement and nobility do not in a single 
instance fill the office or do the work of a priest, of a clergy- 
man or of the Church. They but dupe the world with their 
human devices. 








&6 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





The precedent of Stephen holds good. His example 
gives all men authority to preach wherever they can find 
hearers, whether it be in a building or at the market-place. 
He does not confine the preaching of God’s Word to bald 
pates and long gowns. At the same time he does not inter- 
fere with the preaching of the apostles. He attends to the 
duties of his own office and is readily silent where it is the 
place of the apostles to preach. 

In the second place, Stephen’s conduct is a beautiful ex- 
ample of love for fellowmen in that he entertains no ill- 
will toward even his murderers. However severely he re- 
bukes them in his zeal for the honor of God, such is the 
kindly feeling he has for them that in the very agonies of 
death, having made provision for himself by commending 
his spirit to God, he has no further thought about himself 
but is all concern for them. Under the influence of that 
love he yields up his spirit. Not undesignedly does Luke 
place Stephen’s prayer for his murderers at the close of the 
narrative. Note also, when praying for himself and com- 
mending his spirit to God he stood, but he knelt to pray 
for his murderers. Further, he cried with a loud voice as 
he prayed for them, which he did not do for himself. 

How much more fervently he prayed for his enemies 
than for himself! How his heart must have burned, his 
eyes have overflowed and his entire body been agitated and 
moved with compassion as he beheld the wretchedness of 
his enemies! It is the opinion of St. Augustine that Paul 
was saved by this prayer. And it is not unreasonable to 
believe that God truly heard it and that from eternity he 
foresaw a great result from this dispensation. ‘The person 
of Paul is evidence of God’s answer to Stephen’s prayer. It 
could not be denied, though all may not have been saved. 

Stephen aptly chooses his words, saying, “Lay not this 





St. STEPHEN 87 


sin to their charge; that is, make not their sin unremovable, 
like a pillar or a foundation. By these words Stephen makes 
confession, repents and renders satisfaction for sin, in be- 
half of his murderers. His words imply: ‘Beloved Lord, 
truly they commit a sin, a wrong. ‘This cannot be denied.” 
Just as it is customary in repentance and confession simply 
to deplore and confess the guilt. Stephen then prays, offer- 
ing himself up that abundant satisfaction may surely be 
made for sin. 

Note how great an enemy and at the same time how 
great a friend true love can be; how severe its censures and 
how sweet its aid. It is like a nut with a hard shell and a 
sweet kernel. Bitter to our old Adam nature, it is exceed- 
ingly sweet to the new man in us. 

This epistle lesson, by the example given, inculcates the 
forcible doctrine of faith and love; and more, it affords 
comfort and encouragement. It not only teaches; it incites 
and impels. Death, the terror of the world, it styles a sleep; 
Luke says, ‘‘He fell asleep.”’ ‘That is, Stephen’s death was 
quiet and painless; he departed as one goes to sleep, un- 
knowing how—unconsciously falls asleep. 

The theory that the Christian’s death is a sleep, a 
peaceful passing, has safe foundations in the declaration of 
the Spirit. ‘he Spirit will not deceive us. Christ’s grace 
and power make death peaceful. Its bitterness is far re- 
moved by Christ’s death when we believe in him. He 
says, “if a man keep my word, he shall never see death.” 
Why shall he not see it? Because the soul, embraced in his 
living Word and filled with that life, cannot be sensible of 
death. The Word lives and knows no death; so the soul 
which believes in that Word and lives in it, likewise does not 
taste death. This is why Christ’s words are called words 








&8 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





of life. They are the words of life; he who hangs upon 
them, who believes in them, must live. 

Comfort and encouragement are further increased by 
Stephen’s assertion, ‘I see the heavens opened, and the Son 
of man standing on the right hand of God.” Here we see 
how faithfully and lovingly Christ watches over us, and how 
ready he is to aid us if we but believe in him and will cheer- 
fully risk our lives for his sake. The vision was not given 
solely on Stephen’s account; it was not recorded for his 
profit. It was for our consolation, to remove all doubt of 
our privilege to enjoy the same happy results, provided we 
conduct ourselves as Stephen did. 

The fact that the heavens are open affords us the great- 
est comfort and removes all terror of death. What should 
not stand open and ready for us when the heavens, the 
supreme work of creation, are waiting wide for us and 
rejoicing at our approach? It may be your desire to see 
them visibly open to you. But were everyone to behold, 
where would faith be? ‘That the vision was once given to 
man is enough for the comfort of all Christians, for the 
comfort and strengthening of their faith and for the re- 
moval of all death’s terrors. For as we believe, so shall we 
experience, even though we see not physically. 

Would not the angels, yes all creatures, lend willing 
assistance when the Lord himself stands ready to help? 
Remarkably, Stephen saw not an angel, not God himself, 
but the man Christ, he who most delights humanity and who 
affords man the strongest comfort. Man, especially when 
in distress, welcomes the sight of another man in preference 
to that of angels or other creatures. 

Our artful teachers who would measure the works of 
God by their own reason, or the seas with a spoon, ask: 
‘How could Stephen look into the heavens when our vision 








St. STEPHEN 89 


cannot discern a bird when it soars a little high? How 
could he see Christ distinctly enough to recognize him for a 
certainty? A man upon a high steeple appears to us a 
child, and we cannot recognize his person.” ‘They attempt 
to settle the question by declaring Stephen’s vision must 
have been supernaturally quickened, permitting him to see 
clearly into infinite space. But suppose Stephen had been 
under a roof or within a vault? Away with such human 
nonsense! Paul when near Damascus certainly heard the 
voice of Christ from heaven and his hearing was not quick- 
ened for the occasion. ‘The apostles on Mount Tabor, 
John the Baptist and again the people—these all heard the 
voice of the Father with their ordinary hearing. Is it not 
more difficult to hear a voice from a great distance above 
than to see an object in the same place? The range of our 
vision is immeasurably wider than the scope of our hearing. 

When God desires to reveal himself, heaven and every- 
thing else requisite are near. It matters not whether 
Stephen were beneath a roof or in the open air, heaven was 
near to him. Abnormal vision was not necessary. God is 
everywhere; there is no need that he come down from 
heaven. A vision, at close range, of God actually in heaven 
is easily possible without the quickening or perverting of the 
senses. 

It matters not whether or no we fully comprehend how 
such a vision is effected. It is not intended that the wonders 
of God be brought within our grasp; they are manifested to 
induce in us belief and confidence. Explain to me, ye of 
boasted wisdom, how the comparatively large apple or pear 
or cherry can be grown through the tiny stem; or even 
explain less mysterious things. But permit God to work; 
believe in his wonders and do not presume to bring him 
within your comprehension. 





90 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


Who can number the virtues illustrated in Stephen’s 
example? There loom up all the fruits of the Spirit. We 
find love, faith, patience, benevolence, peace, meekness, wis- 
dom, truth, simplicity, strength, consolation, philanthropy. 
We see there also hatred and censure for all forms of evil. 
We note a disposition not to value worldly advantage 
nor to dread the terrors of death. Liberty, tranquility and 
all the noble virtues and graces are in evidence. ‘There is 
no virtue but is illustrated in this example; no vice it does 
not rebuke. Well may the evangelist say Stephen was full 
of faith and power. Power here implies activity. Luke 
would say, “His faith was great; hence his many and 
mighty works.’ For when faith truly exists, its fruits must 
follow. The greater the faith, the more abundant its fruits. 

True faith is a strong, active and efficacious principle. 
Nothing is impossible to it. It rests not nor hesitates. 
Stephen, because of the superior activity of his faith, per- 
formed not merely ordinary works, but wrought wonders 
and signs publicly—great wonders and signs, as Luke says. 
This is written for a sign that the inactive individual lacks 
in faith, and has no right to boast of having it. Not un- 
designedly is the word “faith” placed before the word 
“power.” ‘The intention was to show that works are evi- 
dence of faith, and that without faith nothing good can be 
accomplished. Faith must be primary in every act. To 
this end may God assist us. Amen. 


| 


Enduring Persecution 





JOHN CALVIN 


OHN CALV-IN was born at Noyon, France, in 1509, 
J and died at Geneva, in 1564. After Martin Luther, 
Calvin is the greatest figure in the history of Protestant- 
ism. At the age of twenty-seven he published his cele- 
brated “Institutes,” a profound theological treatise. In 
1536, Calvin visited Geneva and was persuaded by Farrel, 
the Swiss reformer, to cast in his lot with the Protestants 
of that city. There Calvin made Geneva the bright and 
shining light of the Protestant world. Geneva became the 
house of refuge for persecuted Protestants from all parts 
of Europe and Calvin the spiritual father and adviser of 
the churches in France, Holland and Great Britain. His 
was the organizing mind of the Protestant churches, and 
in education, civil government, theology and ecclesiastical 
organization his influence was felt throughout the world. 
A system of theology, Calvinism, takes its name from him 
and still dominates large portions of the Protestant world. 
Bancroft pays Calvin this well-merited tribute: “So he 
continued year after year, solitary and feeble, yet toiling 
for humanity, till, after a life of glory, he bequeathed to 
his personal heirs a fortune in books and furniture, stocks 
and money, not exceeding two hundred dollars, and to the 
world a purer reformation, a republican spirit in religion, 
with the kindred principles of republican liberty.” 

Most of the sermons of Calvin were preached in the 
Church of St. Peter at Geneva. We associate Calvin with 
the great and difficult themes of God’s sovereign decrees 
and predestination. But in the sermon which follows, 
“Enduring Persecution,’ we see him as pastor and 
preacher. “The sermon is comprehensible by all, yet shows 
the smooth working of that wonderful intellect. Persecu- 
tion for Christ’s sake was not then an abstract theme, for 
those to whom Calvin preached stood daily in jeopardy for 
their lives. 


91 


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“vie Pe IER ee 


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eno se 


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Foe s 


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ip ae Bi a 
4 


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4 if ne ee “y aes) , as Bihy iy ie 
RAH Vk fad Ng fa) nen Ta4) 
5 Pe Mme dif 
qi i ate t % : 


f f icy 
ia fo te LCN Pe? 
ae aha Ne 





Enduring Persecution 


“Let us go forth out of the tents after Christ, bearing his 
reproach” (Heb. 13:13). 


LL the exhortations which can be given us to sufter 
patiently for the name of Jesus Christ, and in de- 
fence of the gospel, will have no effect, if we do not 

feel assured of the cause for which we fight. For when we 
are called to part with life, it is absolutely necessary to 
know on what grounds. ‘The firmness necessary we cannot 
possess, unless it be founded on certainty of faith. 

It is true that persons may be found who will foolishly 
expose themselves to death in maintaining some absurd 
opinions and reveries conceived by their own brain, but such 
impetuosity is more to be regarded as frenzy than as Chris- 
tian zeal; and, in fact, there is neither firmness nor sound 
sense in those who thus, at a kind of hap-hazard, cast them- 
selves away. But however this may be, it is in a good cause 
only that God can acknowledge us as his martyrs. Death 
is common to all, and the children of God are condemned 
to ignominy and tortures just as criminals are; but God 
makes the distinction between them, inasmuch as he cannot 
deny his truth. On our part, then, it is requisite that we 
have sure and infallible evidence of the doctrine which we 
maintain; and hence, as I have said, we cannot be rationally 
impressed by any exhortations which we receive to suffer 
persecution for the gospel, if no true certainty of faith has 
been imprinted in our hearts. For to hazard our life upon 
a peradventure is not natural, and though we were to do it, 
it would only be rashness, not Christian courage. In a 
word, nothing that we do will be approved of God if we 


93 





94 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


are not thoroughly persuaded that it is for him and his 
cause we suffer persecution, and the world is our enemy. 

Now, when I speak of such persuasion, I mean not 
merely that we must know how to distinguish between true 
religion and the abuses or follies of men, but also that we 
must be thoroughly persuaded of the heavenly life, and 
the crown which is promised us above, after we shall have 
fought here below. Let us understand, then, that both of 
these requisites are necessary, and cannot be separated from 
each other. 

The points, accordingly, with which we must commence, 
are these:—We must know well what our Christianity is, 
what the faith which we have to hold and follow—what the 
rule which God has given us; and we must be so well fur- 
nished with such instruction as to be able boldly to condemn 
all the falsehoods, errors, and superstitions, which Satan 
has introduced to corrupt the pure simplicity of the doctrine 
of God. 

We now see The True Method of Preparing to Suffer 
for the Gospel. First, We must have profited so far in the 
school of God as to be decided in regard to true religion 
and the doctrine which we are to hold; and we must despise 
all the wiles and impostures of Satan, and all human inven- 
tions, as things not only frivolous but also carnal, inasmuch 
as they corrupt Christian purity; therein differing, like true 
martyrs of Christ, from the fantastic persons who suffer for 
mere absurdities. Second, Feeling assured of the good 
cause, we must be inflamed, accordingly, to follow God 
whithersoever he may call us: his word must have such au- 
thority with us as it deserves, and, having withdrawn from 
this world, we must feel as it were enraptured in seeking the 
heavenly life. 

But it is more than strange, that though the light of 





ENDURING PERSECUTION 95 


God is shining more brightly than it ever did before, there 
is a lamentable want of zeal! In short, it is impossible to 
deny that it is to our great shame, not to say fearful con- 
demnation, that we have so well known the truth of God, 
and have so little courage to maintain it! 

Above all, when we look to the Martyrs of past times, 
well may we detest our own cowardice! ‘The greater part 
of those were not persons much versed in Holy Scripture, 
so as to be able to dispute on all subjects. “They knew that 
there was one God, whom they behoved to worship and 
serve—that they had been redeemed by the blood of Jesus 
Christ, in order that they might place their confidence of 
salvation in him and in his grace—and that all the inven- 
tions of men, being mere dross and rubbish, they ought to 
condemn all idolatries and superstitions. In one word, 
their theology was in substance this,—There is one God 
who created all the world, and declared his will to us by 
Moses and the Prophets, and finally by Jesus Christ and 
his Apostles; and we have one sole Redeemer, who pur- 
chased us by his blood, and by whose grace we hope to be 
saved: All the idols of the world are cursed, and deserve 
execration. 

With a system embracing no other points than these, 
they went boldly to the flames; or to any other kind of 
death. They did not go in twos or threes, but in such bands, 
that the number of those who fell by the hands of tyrants 
is almost infinite ! 

What then should be done in order to inspire our 
breasts with true courage? We have, in the first place, to 
consider how precious the Confession of our Faith is in the 
sight of God. We little know how much God prizes it, if 
our life, which is nothing, is valued by us more highly. 
When it is so, we manifest a marvellous degree of stupidity. 





96 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





We cannot save our life at the expense of our confession, 
without acknowledging that we hold it in higher estimation 
than the honour of God and the salvation of our souls. 

A heathen could say, that “It was a miserable thing to 
save life by giving up the only things which made life desir- 
able!’ And yet he and others like him never knew for 
what end men are placed in the world, and why they live 
init. We know far better what the chief aim of life should 
be, namely, to glorify God, in order that he may be our 
glory. When this is not done, woe to us! And we cannot 
continue to live for a single moment upon the earth with- 
out heaping additional curses on our heads. Still we are 
not ashamed to purchase some few days to languish here 
below, renouncing the eternal kingdom by separating our- 
selves from him by whose energy we are sustained in life. 

But as Persecution is always harsh and bitter, let us con- 
sider, How and By What Means Christians May Be Able 
to Fortify Themselves with Patience, so as Unflinchingly to 
Expose Their Life for the Truth of God. The text which 
we have read out, when it is properly understood, is sufhi- 
cient to induce us to do so. The Apostle says, ‘Let us go 
forth from the city after the Lord Jesus, bearing his re- 
proach.” In the first place, he reminds us, although the 
swords should not be drawn over us nor the fires kindled to 
burn us, that we cannot be truly united to the Son of God 
while we are rooted in this world. Wherefore, a Christian, 
even in repose, must always have one foot lifted to march 
to battle, and not only so, but he must have his affections 
withdrawn from the world, although his body is dwelling 
In it. 

Meanwhile, to solace our infirmity and mitigate the vex- 
ation and sorrow which persecution might cause us, a good 
reward is held forth. In suffering for the cause of God, we 





ENDURING PERSECUTION 97 


are walking step by step after the Son of God, and have 
him for our guide. Were it simply said, that to be Chris- 
tians we must pass through all the insults of the world 
boldly, to meet death at all times and in whatever way God 
may be pleased to appoint, we might apparently have some 
pretext for replying. It is a strange road to go at a per- 
adventure. But when we are commanded to follow the 
Lord Jesus, his guidance is too good and honourable to be 
refused. 

Are we so delicate as to be unwilling to endure any- 
thing? ‘Then we must renounce the grace of God by which 
he has called us to the hope of salvation. For there are 
two things which cannot be separated—to be members of 
Christ, and to be tried by many afflictions. 

It were easy indeed for God to crown us at once without 
requiring us to sustain any combats; but as it is his pleasure 
that until the end of the world Christ shall reign in the 
midst of his enemies, so it is also his pleasure that we, being 
placed in the midst of them, shall suffer their oppression 
and violence till he deliver us. I know, indeed, that the 
flesh kicks when it is to be brought to this point, but still 
the will of God must have the mastery. 

In ancient times vast numbers of people, to obtain a 
simple crown of leaves, refused no toil, no pain, no trouble; 
nay, it even cost them nothing to die, and yet everyone of 
them fought for a peradventure, not knowing whether he 
was to gain or lose the prize. God holds forth to us the 
immortal crown by which we may become partakers of his 
glory. He does not mean us to fight at hap-hazard, but all 
of us have a promise of the prize for which we strive. Have 
we any cause then to decline the struggle? Do we think it 
has been said in vain, “If we die with Jesus Christ we shall 





98 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





also live with him?’’ Our triumph is prepared, and yet we 
do all we can to shun the combat. 

To leave no means which may be fitted to stimulate us 
unemployed, God sets before us Promises on the one hand, 
and Threatenings on the other. Do we feel that the prom- 
ises have not sufficient influence, let us strengthen them by 
adding the threatenings. It is true we must be perverse in 
the extreme not to put more faith in the promises of God, 
when the Lord Jesus says that he will own us as his before 
his Father, provided we confess him before men. 

But if God cannot win us to himself by gentle means, 
must we not be mere blocks if his threatenings also fail? 
Jesus Christ summons all those who from fear of temporal 
death shall have denied the truth, to appear at the bar of 
God his Father, and says, that then both body and soul will 
be consigned to perdition. And in another passage he says 
that he will disclaim all those who shall have denied him be- 
fore men. ‘hese words, if we are not altogether imper- 
vious to feeling, might well make our hair stand on end! 

It is in vain for us to allege that pity should be shewn 
us, inasmuch as our nature is so frail; for it is said, on the 
contrary, that Moses having looked to God by faith was 
fortified so as not to yield under any temptation. Where- 
fore, when we are thus soft and easy to bend, it is a mani- 
fest sign, I do not say that we have no zeal, no firmness, but 
that we know nothing either of God or his kingdom. 

There are two points to be considered. ‘The first is, 
that the whole body of the Church in general has always 
been, and to the end will be, liable to be afflicted by the 
wicked. ‘Therefore, on seeing how the Church of God is 
trampled upon in the present day by proud worldlings, how 
one barks and another bites, how they torture, how they 
plot against her, how she is assailed incessantly by mad 





ENDURING PERSECUTION 99 


dogs and savage beasts, let it remind us that the same thing 
was done in all the olden time. 

Meanwhile, the issue of her afflictions has always been 
fortunate. At all events, God has caused that though she 
has been pressed by many calamities, she has never been 
completely crushed; as it is said, ““The wicked with all their 
efforts have not succeeded in that at which they aimed.” St. 
Paul glories in the fact, and shews that this is the course 
which God in mercy always takes. He says, ‘‘We endure 
tribulations, but we are not in agony; we are impoverished, 
but not left destitute; we are persecuted, but not forsaken; 
cast down, but we perish not; bearing everywhere in our 
body the mortification of the Lord Jesus, in order that his 
life may be manifested in our mortal bodies.”’ 

I only touch on this article briefly to come to the second, 
which is more to our purpose, viz., that we Ought to Take 
Advantage of the Particular Examples of the Martyrs 
who have Gone Before Us. These are not confined to two 
or three, but are, as the Apostle says, ‘‘a great and dense 
cloud.” By this expression he intimates that the number 
is so great that it ought as it were completely to engross our 
sight. Not to be tedious, I will only mention the Jews, 
who were persecuted for the true Religion, as well under the 
tyranny of King Antiochus as a little after his death. We 
cannot allege that the number of sufferers was small, for it 
formed as it were a large army of martyrs. We cannot say 
that it consisted of Prophets whom God had set apart from 
common people; for women and young children formed 
part of the band. We cannot say that they got off at a 
cheap rate, for they were tortured as cruelly as it was pos- 
sible to be. Accordingly, we hear what the Apostle says, 
‘Some were stretched out like drums, not caring to be de- 
livered, that they might obtain a better resurrection; others 





100 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


were proved by mockery and blows, or bonds and prisons; 
others were stoned or sawn asunder; others travelled up 
and down, wandering among mountains and caves.”’ 

Let us now compare their case with ours. If they so en- 
dured for the truth which was at that time so obscure, what 
ought we to do in the clear light which is now shining? God 
speaks to us with open mouth; the great gate of the king- 
dom of heaven has been opened, and Jesus Christ calls us 
to himself, after having come down to us that we might 
have him as it were present to our eyes. What a reproach 
would it be to us to have less zeal in suffering for the Gos- 
pel, than those had who only hailed the promises afar off— 
who had only a little wicket opened whereby to come to 
the kingdom of God, and who had only some memorial and 
type of Jesus Christ? These things cannot be expressed in 
word as they deserve, and therefore I leave each to ponder 
them for himself. 

In the first place, then, the Christian man, wherever he 
may be, must resolve, notwithstanding of dangers or 
threatenings, to walk in simplicity as God has commanded. 
Let him guard as much as he can against the ravening of 
the wolves, but let it not be with carnal craftiness. Above 
all, let him place his life in the hands of God. Has he done 
so? [hen if he happens to fall into the hands of the enemy, 
let him think that God, having so arranged, is pleased to 
have him for one of the witnesses of his Son; and therefore 
that he has no means of drawing back without breaking 
faith with him to whom we have promised all duty in life 
and in death—him whose we are and to whom we belong, 
even though we should have made no promise. 

Let it be held, then, as a fixed point among all Chris- 
tians, that they ought not to hold their life more precious 
than the testimony to the truth, inasmuch as God wishes to 


ENDURING PERSECUTION 101 


be glorified thereby. Is it in vain that he gives the name 
of Witnesses (for this is the meaning of the word Martyr) 
to all who have to answer before the enemies of the faith? 
Here every one is not to look for his fellow, for God does 
not honour all alike with the call. And as we are inclined 
so to look, we must be the more on our guard against it. 
Peter having heard from the lips of our Lord Jesus that 
he should be led in his old age where he would not, asked, 
What was to become of his companion John? There is not 
one amongst who would not readily have put the same ques- 
tion; for the thought which instantly rises in our minds is, 
Why do I suffer rather than others? On the contrary, 
Jesus Christ exhorts all of us in common, and each of us 
in particular, to hold ourselves “ready,” in order that ac- 
cording as he shall call this one or that one, we may march 
forth in our turn. 

I explained above how little prepared we shall be to 
suffer martyrdom, if we be not armed with the Divine 
Promises. It now remains to shew somewhat more fully 
What the Purport and Aim of these Promises are—not to 
specify them all in detail, but to shew the principal things 
which God wishes us to hope from him, to console us in our 
afflictions. Now these things, taken summarily, are three. 
The first is, That Inasmuch as Our Life and Death are in 
His Hand, He Will So Preserve Us by His Might that Not 
a Hair will be Plucked Out of Our Heads without His 
Leave. Believers, therefore, ought to feel assured into 
whatever hands they may fall, that God is not divested of 
the guardianship which he exercises over their persons. 
Were such a persuasion well imprinted on our hearts, we 
should be delivered from the greater part of the doubts 
and perplexities which torment us and obstruct us in our 
duty. 





102 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





We see tyrants let loose; thereupon it seems to us that 
God no longer possesses any means of saving us, and we are 
tempted to provide for our own affairs as if nothing more 
were to be expected from him. On the contrary, his Provi- 
dence, as he unfolds it, ought to be regarded by us as an 
impregnable fortress. Let us labour, then, to learn the full 
import of the expression,.that our bodies are in the hands 
of him who created them. For this reason he has sometimes 
delivered his people in a miraculous manner, and beyond all 
human expectation, as Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednego, 
from the fiery furnace, Daniel from the den of lions, Peter 
from Herod’s prison, where he was locked in, chained, and 
guarded so closely. By these examples he meant to testify 
that he holds our enemies in check, although it may not seem 
so, and has power to withdraw us from the midst of death 
when he pleases. Not that he always does it; but in reserv- 
ing authority to himself to dispose of us for life and for 
death, he would have us to feel fully assured that he has us 
under his charge; so that whatever tyrants attempt, and 
with whatever fury they may rush against us, it belongs to 
him alone to order our life. 

If he permits tyrants to slay us, it is not because our 
life is not dear to him, and in greater honour an hundred 
times than it deserves. Such being the case, having declared 
by the mouth of David that the death of the saints is pre- 
cious in his sight, he says also by the mouth of Isaiah that 
the earth will discover the blood which seems to be con- 
cealed. Let the enemies of the gospel, then, be as prodigal 
as they will of the blood of the Martyrs, they shall have to 
render a fearful account of it even to its last drop! In the 
present day, they indulge in proud derision while consign- 
ing believers to the flames; and after having bathed in their 
blood, they are intoxicated by it to such a degree as to count 





ENDURING PERSECUTION 103 


all the murders which they commit mere festive sport. But 
if we have patience to wait, God will shew in the end that 
it is not in vain he has taxed our life at so high a value. 
Meanwhile, let it not offend us that it seems to confirm the 
gospel, which in worth surpasses heaven and earth! 

To be better assured that God does not leave us as it 
were forsaken in the hands of tyrants, let us remember the 
declaration of Jesus Christ, when he says that he himself 
is persecuted in his members. God had indeed said before, 
by Zechariah, ‘“‘He who touches you touches the apple of 
mine eye.’’ But here it is said much more expressly, that 
if we suffer for the gospel, it is as much as if the Son of God 
were suffering in person. Let us know, therefore, that Jesus 
Christ must forget himself before he can cease to think of 
us when we are in prison, or in danger of death for his 
cause; and let us know that God will take to heart all the 
outrages which tyrants commit upon us, Just as if they were 
committed on his own Son. 

Let us now come to the second point which God declares 
to us in his promise for our consolation. It is, that he will 
so sustain us by the energy of his Spirit that our enemies, do 
what they may, even with Satan at their head, will gain no 
advantage over us. And we see how he displays his gifts 
in such an emergency; for the invincible constancy which ap- 
pears in the martyrs abundantly and beautifully demon- 
strates that God works in them mightily. In persecution 
there are two things grievous to the flesh, the Vituperation 
and insult of men, and the Tortures which the body suffers. 
Now, God promises to hold out his hand to us so effectually, 
that we shall overcome both by patience. What he thus 
tells us he confirms by fact. Let us take this buckler, then, 
to ward off all fears by which we are assailed, and let us not 
confine the working of the Holy Spirit within such narrow 








104 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





limits as to suppose that he will not easily surmount all the 
cruelties of men. 

Of this we have had, among other examples, one which 
is particularly memorable. A young man who once lived 
with us here, having been apprehended in the town of 
Tournay, was condemned to have his head cut off if he re- 
canted, and to be burned alive if he continued steadfast to 
his purpose! When he was asked, What he meant to do? 
he replied simply, ‘“He who will give me grace to die pa- 
tiently for his Name, will surely give me grace to bear the 
fire!” We ought to take this expression not as that of a 
mortal man, but as that of the Holy Spirit, to assure us 
that God is not less powerful to strengthen us, and render 
us victorious over tortures, than to make us submit willingly 
to a milder death. Moreover, we oftentimes see what firm- 
ness he gives to unhappy malefactors who suffer for their 
crimes. I speak not of the hardened, but of those who de- 
rive consolation from the grace of Jesus Christ, and by this 
means, with a peaceful heart, undergo the most grievous 
punishment which can be inflicted. One beautiful instance 
is seen in the thief who was converted at the death of our 
Lord. Will God, who thus powerfully assists poor crim- 
inals when enduring the punishment of their misdeeds, be so 
wanting to his own people, while fighting for his cause, as 
not to give them invincible courage? 

The third point for consideration in the promises which 
God gives his Martyrs is, The fruit which they ought to 
hope for from their sufferings, and in the end, if need be, 
from their death. Now, this fruit is, that after having 
glorified his Name—after having edified the Church by 
their constancy—they will be gathered together with the 
Lord Jesus into his immortal glory. But as we have above 
spoken of this at some length, it is enough here to recall it 





ENDURING PERSECUTION 105 


to remembrance. Let believers, then, learn to lift up their 
heads towards the crown of glory and immortality to which 
God invites them, that thus they may not feel reluctant to 
quit the present life for such a recompense; and, to feel 
well assured of this inestimable blessing, let them have al- 
ways before their eyes the conformity which they thus have 
to our Lord Jesus Christ; beholding death in the midst of 
life, just as he, by the reproach of the Cross, attained to The 
Glorious Resurrection, wherein consists all our felicity, joy 
and triumph! 


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Funeral Oration for Louis Bourbon, 
Prince of Condé 





JAMES BENIGNE BOSSUET 


AMES BENIGNE BOSSUET was born at Dijon, 
France, on September 27, 1627, and died in Paris in 
1704. He was thus a contemporary of two other great 
French pulpit orators, Fenelon and Bourdaloue. Bossuet 
early evinced great talent and was from childhood destined 
for the Church. It is related that he chanced one day to 
come upon a Bible which had been left open at the proph- 
ecies of Isaiah. His heart was thrilled by the noble poetry 
of the prophet, and henceforth the Bible was Bossuet’s 
inspiration and model. In 1662, he delivered the Lenten 
sermons before the French Court. Louis XIV was de- 
lighted with his preaching and made him one of the favor- 
ite court preachers. He is said to have remonstrated 
with the king because of his dissolute life, but that did not 
prevent him from inserting in his sermons eulogies upon 


> ‘The most renowned of the ser- 


the “greatest of kings.’ 
mons of Bossuet is his funeral sermon of the “great 
Condé,” the celebrated French soldier of the seventeenth 
century. The sermon was preached in the cathedral of 
Notre Dame, in the presence of the king and the most 
distinguished persons of the realm. 

To a reader of our day, the sermon will seem more like 
an oration than a sermon; and such, indeed, it is. “The 
long historical section in which the preacher sketches the 
military history of Condé and recounts his victories has 
been deleted. Although a courtier as well as a bishop, 
and standing in the presence of the most illustrious persons 
of France, Bossuet does not forget the preacher’s high 
commission, and in words of powerful eloquence calls upon 
his auditors to set their affections upon things above. 


107 





108 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


Especially stirring is the closing passage of the sermon, 
in which he imagines the glory of the other world into 
which the great soldier was passing, and how on the verge 
of that glory the splendors of this world are but vanishing 
phantoms. 


Funeral Oration for Louis Bourbon, 
Prince of Condé 
Delivered before Louis XIV 


“The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. Go in 
this thy might. Surely I will be with thee” (Judges 6:12, 
14, 16). 


T the moment that I open my lips to celebrate the 
“aN immortal glory of Louis Bourbon, Prince of Condé, 
I find myself equally overwhelmed by the greatness 

of the subject, and, if permitted to avow it, by the useless- 
ness of the task. What part of the habitable world has not 
heard of the victories of the Prince of Condé, and the won- 
ders of his life? Everywhere they are rehearsed. ‘he 
Frenchman, in extolling them, can give no information to 
the stranger. And although I may remind you of them to- 
day, yet, always anticipated by your thoughts, I shall have 
to suffer your secret reproach for falling so far below them. 
We feeble orators can add nothing to the glory of extra- 
ordinary souls. Well has the sage remarked that their ac- 
tions alone praise them; all other praise languishes by the 
side of their great names. ‘The simplicity of a faithful nar- 
rative alone can sustain the glory of the Prince of Conde. 
But expecting that history, which owes such a narrative to 
future ages, will make this appear, we must satisfy, as we 
can, the gratitude of the public, and the commands of the 
greatest of kings. What does the empire not owe to a 
prince who has honored the house of France, the whole 
French name, and, so to speak, mankind at large! Louis 
the Great himself has entered into these sentiments. After 


109 





110 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


having mourned that great man, and given by his tears, in 
the presence of his whole court, the most glorious eulogy 
which he could receive, he gathers together in this illus- 
trious temple whatever is most august in his kingdom, to 
render public acknowledgments to the memory of the 
Prince; and he desires that my feeble voice should animate 
all these mournful signs—all this funeral array. Let us 
then subdue our grief and make the effort. 

God has revealed to us that He alone makes conquer- 
ors, that He alone causes them to subserve His designs. 
Who made Cyrus but God, who, in the prophecies of Isaiah, 
named him two hundred years before his birth? ‘“Thou 
hast not known Me,” said He to him, “‘but I have even 
called thee by thy name, and surnamed thee. I will go be- 
fore thee and make the crooked places straight; I will break 
in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of 
iron. Jam the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God 
beside Me. I form the light and create darkness’; as if 
He had said, “I the Lord do everything, and from eternity 
know everything that I do.” Who could have formed an 
Alexander but the same God who made him visible from 
afar to the prophet Daniel, and revealed by such vivid 
images his unconquerable ardor? ‘‘See,’’ said He, “‘that 
conqueror, with what rapidity he advances from the west, 
as it were by bounds and without touching the earth.” Re- 
sembling, in his bold movements and rapid march, certain 
vigorous and bounding animals, he advances, only by quick 
and impetuous attacks, and is arrested neither by moun- 
tains nor precipices. Already the King of Persia falls into 
his power. At sight of him, he is “moved with anger— 
rushes upon him, stamps him under his feet; none can de- 
fend him from his attacks, or deliver him out of his hand.” 
Listening only to these words of Daniel, whom do you ex- 





FUNERAL ORATION FOR LovuIs BOURBON 111 


pect to see under that image—Alexander or the Prince of 
Condé? God had given him that indomitable valor for the 
salvation of France during the minority of a king of four 
years. But let that king, cherished of heaven, advance in 
life, everything will yield to his exploits. Equally superior 
to his friends and his enemies, he will hasten now to employ, 
now to surpass his most distinguished generals; and under 
the hand of God, who will ever befriend him, he will be ac- 
knowledged the firm bulwark of his kingdom. But God 
had chosen the Prince of Condé to defend him in his child- 
hood. 

I have seen him (and do not imagine that I exaggerate 
here) deeply moved with the perils of his friends; I have 
seen him, simple and natural, change color at the recital of 
their misfortunes, entering into their minutest as well as 
most important affairs, reconciling contending parties, and 
calming angry spirits with a patience and gentleness which 
could never have been expected from a temper so sensitive, 
and a rank so high. Far from us be heroes without human- 
ity! As in the case of all extraordinary things, they might 
force our respect and seduce our admiration, but they could 
never win our love. When God formed the heart of man 
He planted goodness there, as the proper characteristic of 
the Divine nature, and the mark of that beneficent hand 
from which we sprang. Goodness, then, ought to be the 
principal element of our character, and the great means of 
attracting the affection of others. Greatness, which super- 
venes upon this, so far from diminishing goodness, ought 
only to enable it, like a public fountain, to diffuse itself more 
extensively. This is the price of hearts! For the great, 
whose goodness is not diffusive, as a just punishment of their 
haughty indifference, remain forever deprived of the great- 
est good of life, the fellowship of kindred souls. Never 








LZ GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


did one less fear that familiarity would diminish respect. Is 
this the man that stormed cities and gained battles? Have 
I forgotten the high rank he knew so well to defend? Let 
us acknowledge the hero, who, always equal to himself, 
without rising to appear great, or descending to be civil and 
kind, naturally appeared everything that he ought to be 
toward all men, like a majestic and beneficent river, which 
peacefully conveys from city to city, the abundance which 
it has spread through the countries which it waters; which. 
flows for the benefit of all, and rises and swells only when 
some violent opposition is made to the gentle current which 
bears it on its tranquil course. Such was the gentleness and 
such the energy of the Prince of Conde. Have you an im- 
portant secret? Confide it freely to that noble heart; your 
affair becomes his by that confidence. Nothing was more 
inviolable to that Prince than the rights of friendship. 
When a favor was asked of him, it was he that appeared 
obliged; and never was his joy so natural or lively, as when 
he conferred pleasure upon others. 

Let us now look at the qualities of his intellect; and 
since, alas! that which is most fatal to human life, namely, 
the military art, admits of the greatest genius and talent, let 
us in the first place consider the great genius of the Prince 
with reference to that department. And in the first place, 
what general ever displayed such far-reaching foresight? . 
One of his maxims was, that we ought to fear enemies at 
a distance, in order not to fear them near at hand—nay’ 
more, to rejoice in their approach. See, as he considers all 
the advantages which he can give or take, with what rapid- 
ity he comprehends times, places, persons, and not only their 
interests and talents, but even all their humors and caprices! 
See how he estimates the cavalry and infantry of his en- 
emies, by the nature of the country, or the resources of the 





FUNERAL ORATION FOR Louis BOURBON YES 


confederated princes! Nothing escapes his penetration. 
With what prodigious comprehension of the entire details 
and general plan of the war, he is ever awake to the occur- 
rence of the slightest incident; drawing from a deserter, a 
prisoner, a passer-by, what he wishes him to say or to con- 
ceal, what he knows, and, so to speak, what he does not 
know, so certain is he in his conclusions. His patrols repeat 
to him the slightest things: he is ever on the watch, for he 
holds it as a maxim, that an able general may be van- 
quished, but ought never to suffer himself to be surprised. 
And it is due to him to say that this never occurred in his 
case. At whatever, or from whatever quarter his enemies 
come, they find him on his guard, always ready to fall upon 
them, and take advantage of their position; like an eagle, 
which, whether soaring in mid air, or perched upon the sum- 
mit of some lofty rock, sweeps the landscape with his pierc- 
ing eyes, and falls so surely upon his prey, that it can neither 
escape his talons, nor his lightning glance. So keen his per- 
ception, so quick and impetuous his attack, so strong and 
irresistible the hands of the Prince of Condé. In his camp 
vain terrors, which fatigue and discourage more than real 
ones, are unknown. All strength remains entire for true 
perils; all is ready at the first signal, and as saith the pro- 
phet, ‘‘All arrows are sharpened, all bows bent.’ While 
waiting, he enjoys as sound repose as he would under his 
own roof. 

But if ever he appeared great, and by his wondrous self- 
possession, superior to all exigencies, it was in those critical 
moments upon which victory turns, and in the deepest ardor 
of battle. In all other circumstances he deliberates—docile, 
he lends an ear to the counsels of all; but here everything is 
presented to him at once; the multiplicity of objects con- 
founds him not; in an instant his part is taken; he com- 





114 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





mands, he acts together; everything is made to subserve 
his purpose. Shall I add, for why fear the reputation of 
so great a man should be diminished by the acknowledg- 
ment, that he was distinguished not only by his quick sallies 
which he knew so promptly and agreeably to repair, but 
that he sometimes appeared, on ordinary occasions, as if he 
had in him another nature, to which his great soul aban- 
doned minor details, in which he himself deigned not to 
mingle. In the fire, the shock,. the confusion of battle, all 
at once sprung up in him—TI know not what firmness and 
clearness, what ardor and grace—so attractive to his 
friends, so terrible to his enemies—a combination of quali- 
ties and contrasts, at once singular and striking. In that 
terrible engagement, when before the gates of the city, and 
in the sight of the citizens, Heaven seemed to decide the 
fate of the Prince; when he had against him choice troops 
and a powerful general—when, more than once, he saw him- 
self exposed to the caprices of fortune—when, in a word, 
he was attacked on every side, those who were fighting near 
him have told us that if they had an affair of importance 
to transact with him, they would have chosen for it that 
very moment when the fires of battle were raging around 
him; so much did his spirit appear elevated above them, 
and, as it were, inspired in such terrible encounters; like 
those lofty mountains, whose summits, rising above clouds 
and storms, find their serenity in their elevation, and lose 
not a single ray of the light by which they are enveloped. 
Such, messieurs, are the spectacles which God gives to 
the world, and the men whom He sends into it, to illustrate, 
now in one nation, now in another, according to His eternal 
counsels, His power and His wisdom. For, do His Divine 
attributes discover themselves more clearly in the heavens - 
which His fingers have formed, than in the rare talents 





FUNERAL ORATION FOR Louis BOURBON 115 


which He has distributed, as it pleases Him, to extraor- 
dinary men? What star shines more brilliantly in the 
firmament, than the Prince de Condé has done in Europe? 
Not war alone gave him renown; but his resplendent genius 
which embraced everything, ancient as well as modern, his- 
tory, philosophy, theology the most sublime, the arts and 
the sciences. None possessed a book which he had not 
read; no man of excellence existed, with whom he had not, 
in some speculation or in some work, conversed; all left him 
instructed by his penetrating questions or judicious reflec- 
tions. His conversation, too, had a charm, because he knew 
how to speak to everyone according to his talents; not 
merely to warriors on their enterprises, to courtiers on their 
interests, to politicians on their negotiations, but even to 
curious travelers on their discoveries in nature, government 
or commerce; to the artisan on his inventions, and in fine 
to the learned of all sorts, on their productions. ‘That gifts 
like these come from God, who can doubt? ‘That they are 
worthy of admiration, who does not see? But to confound 
the human spirit which prides itself upon these gifts, God 
hesitates not to confer them upon His enemies. St. Augus- 
tine considers among the heathen, so many sages, so many 
conquerors, so many grave legislators, so many excellent 
citizens—-a Socrates, a Marcus Aurelius, a Scipio, a Caesar, 
an Alexander, all deprived of the knowledge of God, and 
excluded from His eternal kingdom. Is it not God then 
who has made them? Who else could do so but He who 
made everything in heaven, and in the earth? But why has 
He done so? what in this case are the particular designs of 
that infinite wisdom which makes nothing in vain? Hear 
the response of St. Augustine. “‘He has made them,” says 
he, “that they might adorn the present world.” He has 
made the rare qualities of those great men, as He made the 








116 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





sun. Who admires not that splendid luminary; who is not 
ravished with his mid-day radiance, and the gorgeous beauty 
of his rising or decline? But as God has made it to shine 
upon the evil and upon the good, such an object, beautiful 
as it is, can not render us happy; God has made it to em- 
bellish and illumine this great theatre of the universe. So 
also when He has made, in His enemies as well as in His 
servants, those beautiful lights of the mind, those rays of 
His intelligence, those images of His goodness; it is not 
that these alone can secure our happiness. ‘They are but a 
decoration of the universe, an ornament of the age. See 
moreover the melancholy destiny of those men who are 
chosen to be the ornaments of their age. What do such 
rare men desire but the praise and the glory which men can 
give? God, perhaps to confound them will refuse that 
glory to their vain desires! No:—He confounds them 
rather by giving it to them, and even beyond their expecta- 
tion. That Alexander who desired only to make a noise in 
the world, has made it even more than he dared to hope. 
Thus he must find himself in all our panegyrics, and, by a 
species of glorious fatality, so to speak, partake of all the 
praises conferred upon every prince. If the great actions 
of the Romans required a recompense, God knows how to 
bestow one correspondent to their merits as well as their 
desires. For a recompense He gives them the empire of 
the world, as a thing of no value. O kings! humble your- 
selves in your greatness: conquerors, boast not your vic- 
tories! He gives them, for recompense, the glory of men; 
a recompense which never reaches them; a recompense 
which we endeavor to attach to—what? To their medals 
or their statues disinterred from the dust, the refuse of 
years and barbarian violence; to the ruins of their monu- 
ments and works, which contend with time, or rather to 





FUNERAL ORATION FOR Louts BOURBON 117 





their idea, their shadow, or what they call their name! Such 
is the glorious prize of all their labours; such, in the very 
attainment of their wishes is the conviction of their error! 
Come, satisfy yourselves, ye great men of earth! Grasp, if 
you can, that phantom of glory, after the example of the 
great men whom ye admire. God, who punishes their pride 
in the regions of despair, envies them not, as St. Augustine 
says, that glory so much desired: ‘‘vain, they have received 
a recompense as vain as their desires.” ; 

But not thus shall it be with our illustrious Prince. The 
hour of God is come; hour anticipated, hour desired, hour 
of mercy and of grace. Without being alarmed by disease, 
or pressed by time, He executes what He designed. A 
judicious ecclesiastic. whom he had expressly called, per- 
forms for him the offices of religion; he listens, humble 
Christian, to his instructions; indeed, no one ever doubted 
his good faith. From that time he is seen seriously occu- 
pied with the care of vanquishing himself; rising superior 
to his insupportable pains, making, by his submission, a con- 
stant sacrifice. God, whom he invoked by faith, gave him 
a relish for the Scriptures; and in that Divine Book, he 
found the substantial nurture of piety. His counsels were 
more and more regulated by justice; he solaced the widow 
and orphan, the poor approached him with confidence. A 
serious as well as an affectionate father, in the pleasant in- 
tercourse which he enjoyed with his children, he never 
ceased to inspire them with sentiments of true virtue; and 
that young prince, his grandchild, will forever feel himself 
indebted to his training. His entire household profited by 
his example. 

These, messieurs, these simple things—governing his 
family, edifying his domestics, doing justice and mercy, ac- 
complishing the good which God enjoins, and suffering the 





EES GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


evils which He sends—these are the common practices of 
the Christian life which Jesus Christ will applaud before 
His Father and the holy angels. But histories will be de- 
stroyed with empires; no more will they speak of the splen- 
did deeds with which they are filled. While he passed his 
life in such occupations, and carried beyond that of his most 
famous actions the glory of a retreat so good and pious, the 
news of the illness of the Duchess de Bourbon reached 
Chantilly,* like a clap of thunder. Who was not afraid to 
see that rising light extinguished? It was apprehended that 
her condition was worse than it proved. What, then, were 
the feelings of the Prince of Condé, when he saw himself 
threatened with the loss of that new tie of his family to the 
person of the king? Was it on such an occasion that the 
hero must die? Must he who had passed through so many 
sieges and battles perish through his tenderness? Over- 
whelmed by anxieties produced by so frightful a calamity, 
his heart, which so long sustained itself alone, yields to the 
blow; his strength is exhausted. If he forgets all his feeble- 
ness at the sight of the king approaching the sick princess; 
if transported by his zeal, he runs, without assistance, to 
avert the perils which that great king does not fear, by pre- 
venting his approach, he falls exhausted before he has taken 
four steps—a new and affecting way of exposing his life for 
the king. Although the Duchess d’Enghien, a princess, 
whose virtue never feared to perform her duty to her fam- 
ily and friends, had obtained leave to remain with him, to 
solace him, she did not succeed in assuaging his anxieties: 
and after the young princess was beyond danger, the malady 
of the king caused new troubles to the Prince. The Prince 
of Condé grew weaker, but death concealed his approach. 
When he seemed to be somewhat restored, and the Duke 


*The residence of the Prince de Condé. 





FUNERAL ORATION FOR Louis BOURBON 119 





d’Enghien, ever occupied between his duties as a son and 
his duties as a subject, had returned by his order to the king, 
in an instant all was changed, and his approaching death 
was announced to the Prince. Christians, give attention, 
and here learn to die, or rather learn not to wait for the 
last hour, to begin to live well. What! expect to commence 
a new life when, seized by the freezing grasp of death, ye 
know not whether ye are among the living or the dead? 
Ah! prevent, by penitence, that hour of trouble and dark- 
ness! Thus, without being surprised at that final sentence 
communicated to him, the Prince remains for a moment in 
silence, and then all at once exclaims, ‘“Thou dost will it, 
O my God; Thy will be done! Give me grace to die well!”’ 
What more could you desire? In that brief prayer you see 
submission to the will of God, reliance on His providence, 
trust in His grace, and all devotion. From that time, such 
as he had been in all combats, serene, self-possessed, and 
occupied without anxiety, only with what was necessary to 
sustain them—such also he was in that last conflict. Death 
appeared to him no more frightful, pale and languishing, 
than amid the fires of battle and in the prospect of victory. 
While sobbings were heard all around him, he continued, 
as if another than himself were their object, to give his or- 
ders; and if he forbade them weeping, it was not because 
it was a distress to him, but simply a hindrance. At that 
time, he extended his cares to the least of his domestics. 
With a liberality worthy of his birth and of their services, 
he loaded them with gifts, and honored them still more with 
mementoes of his regard. 

The manner in which he began to acquit himself of his 
religious duties, deserves to be recounted throughout the 
world; not because it was particularly remarkable; but 
rather because it was, so to speak, not such ;—for it seemed 





120 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





singular that a Prince so much under the eye of the world, 
should furnish so little to spectators. Do not then, expect 
those magniloquent words which serve to reveal, if not a 
concealed pride, at least an agitated soul, which combat or 
dissemble its secret trouble. The Prince of Conde knew 
not how to utter such pompous sentences; in death, as in 
life, truth ever formed his true grandeur. His confession 
was humble, full of penitence and trust. He required no 
long time to prepare it; the best preparation for such a con- 
fession is not to wait for it as a last resort. But give atten- 
tion to what follows. At the sight of the holy Viaticum, 
which he so much desired, see how deeply he is affected. 
Then he remembers the irreverence with which, alas! he had 
sometimes dishonored that divine mystery. Calling to mind 
all the sins which he had committed, but too feeble to give 
utterance to his intense feelings, he borrowed the voice of 
his confessor to ask pardon of the world, of his domestics, 
and: of his friends. They replied with their tears. Ah! 
reply ye now, profiting by that example! ‘The other duties 
of religion were performed with the same devotion and self- 
possession. With what faith and frequency did he, kissing 
the cross, pray the Saviour of the world that His blood, 
shed for him, might not prove in vain. ‘This it is which jus- 
tifies the sinner, which sustains the righteous, which reas- 
sures the Christian! Three times did he cause the prayers 
for those in anguish to be repeated, and ever with renewed 
consolation. In thanking his physicians, ‘‘See,’’ said he, 
‘‘my true physicians,” pointing to the ecclesiastics to whose 
teachings he had listened, and in whose prayers he joined. 
The Psalms were always upon his lips, and formed the joy 
of his heart. If he complained, it was only that he suffered 
so little in reparation for his sins. Sensible to the last of 
the tenderness of his friends, he never permitted himself to 





FUNERAL ORATION FOR LoutIs BOURBON 121 


be overcome by it; on the contrary, he was afraid of yield- 
ing too much to nature. What shall I say of his last inter- 
view with the Duke d’Enghien? What colors are vivid 
enough to represent to you the constancy of the father, the 
extreme grief of the son? Bathed in tears, his voice choked 
with sobs, he clasps his dying father, then falls back, then 
again rushes into his arms, as if by such means he would re- 
tain that dear object of his affection; his strength gives way, 
and he falls at his feet. “The Prince, without being moved, 
waits for his recovery; then calling the Duchess, his daugh- 
ter-in-law, whom he also sees speechless, and almost with- 
out life, with a tenderness in which nothing of weakness is 
visible, he gives them his last commands, all of which are 
instinct with piety. He closes with those prayers which 
God ever hears, like Jacob, invoking a blessing upon them, 
and upon each of their children in particular. Nor shall I 
forget thee, O Prince, his dear nephew, nor the glorious tes- 
timony which he constantly tendered to your merit, nor his 
tender zeal on your behalf, nor the letter which he wrote, 
when dying, to reinstate you in favor of the king—the dear- 
est object of your wishes—nor the noble qualities which 
made you worthy to occupy, with so much interest, the last 
hours of so good a life. Nor shall I forget the goodness of 
the king, which anticipated the desires of the dying Prince; 
nor the generous cares of the Duke d’Enghien, who pro- 
moted that favor, nor the satisfaction which he felt in ful- 
filling the wishes of his dying father. While his heart is 
expanded, and his voice animated in praising the king, the 
Prince de Conti arrives, penerated with gratitude and grief. 
His sympathies are renewed afresh; and the two Princes 
hear what they will never permit to escape from their heart. 
The Prince concludes, by assuring them that they could 
never be great men, nor great princes, nor honorable per- 





1D? GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


sons, except so far as they possessed real goodness, and 
were faithful to God and the king. ‘These were the last 
words which he left engraven on their memory—this was 
the last token of his affection—the epitome of their duties. 

All were in tears, and weeping aloud. The Prince alone 
was unmoved; trouble came not into that asylum where he 
had cast himself. O God, Thou wert his strength and his 
refuge, and as David says, the immovable rock upon which 
he placed his confidence. Tranquil in the arms of his God, 
he waited for his salvation, and implored His support, until 
he finally ceased to breathe. And here our lamentations 
ought to break forth at the loss of so great a man. But 
for the love of the truth, and the shame of those who de- 
spise it, listen once more to that noble testimony which he 
bore to it in dying. Informed by his confessor that if our 
heart is not entirely right with God, we must, in our ad- 
dresses, ask God Himself to make it such as He pleases, 
and address Him in the affecting language of David, “O 
God, create in me a clean heart.’ Arrested by these words, 
the Prince pauses, as if occupied with some great thought; 
then calling the ecclesiastic who had suggested the idea, he 
says: “I have never doubted the mysteries of religion, as 
some have reported.” Christians, you ought to believe 
him; for in the state he then was, he owed to the world 
nothing but truth. “But,” added he, “I doubt them less 
than ever. May these truths,” he continued, ‘“‘reveal and 
develop themselves more and more clearly in my mind. 
Yes!” says he, “‘we shall see God as He is, face to face!” 
With a wonderful relish he repeated in Latin those lofty 
words—‘‘As He is—face to face!’’ Nor could those around 
him grow weary of seeing him in so sweet a transport. 
What was then taking place in that soul? What new light 
dawned upon him? What sudden ray pierced the cloud, 





FUNERAL ORATION FOR Louis BOURBON 123 


and instantly dissipated, not only the darkness of sense, but 
the very shadows, and if I dare to say it, the sacred ob- 
scurities of faith? What then became of those splendid 
titles by which our pride is flattered? On the very verge 
of glory, and in the dawning of a light so beautiful, how 
rapidly vanish the phantoms of the world! How dim ap- 
pears the splendor of the most glorious victory! How pro- 
foundly we despise the glory of the world, and how deeply 
regret that our eyes were ever dazzled by its radiance. 
Come, ye people, come now——or rather ye Princes and 
Lords, ye judges of the earth, and ye who open to man the 
portals of heaven; and more than all others, ye Princes and 
Princesses, nobles descended from a long line of kings, 
lights of France, but today in gloom, and covered with your 
grief, as with a cloud, come and see how little remains of a 
birth so august, a grandeur so high, a glory so dazzling. 
Look around on all sides, and see all that magnificence and 
devotion can do to honor so great a hero; titles and inscrip- 
tions, vain signs of that which is no more—shadows which 
weep around a tomb, fragile images of a grief which time 
sweeps away with every thing else; columns which appear 
as if they would bear to heaven the magnificent evidence of 
our emptiness; nothing, indeed, is wanting in all these hon- 
ors but he to whom they are rendered! Weep then over 
these feeble remains of human life; weep over that mourn- 
ful immortality we give to heroes. But draw near especially 
ye who run, with such ardor, the career of glory, intrepid 
and warrior spirits! Who was more worthy to command 
you, and in whom did ye find command more honorable? 
Mourn then that great Captain, and weeping, say: ‘Here 
is the man that led us through all hazards, under whom 
were formed so many renowned captains, raised by his ex- 
ample, to the highest honors of war; his shadow might yet 





124 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





gain battles, and lo! in his silence, his very name animates 
us, and at the same time warns us, that to find, at death, 
some rest from our toils, and not arrive unprepared at our 
eternal dwelling, we must, with an earthly king, yet serve 
the King of Heaven.” Serve then that immortal and ever 
merciful King, who will value a sigh or a cup of cold water, 
given in His name, moré than all others will value the shed- 
ding of your blood. And begin to reckon the time of your 
useful services from the day on which you gave yourselves 
to so beneficent a Master. Will not ye too come, ye whom 
he honored by making you his friends? To whatever ex- 
tent you enjoyed his confidence, come all of you, and sur- 
round his tomb. Mingle your prayers with your tears; and 
while admiring, in so great a prince, a friendship so ex- 
cellent, an intercourse so sweet, preserve the remembrance 
of a hero whose goodness equalled his courage. ‘Thus may 
he ever prove your cherished instructor; thus may you profit 
by his virtues; and may his death, which you deplore, serve 
you at once for consolation and example. For myself, if 
permitted, after all others, to render the last offices at this 
tomb, O prince, the worthy subject of our praises and re- 
grets, thou wilt live forever in my memory. There will thy 
image be traced, but not with that bold aspect which prom- 
ises victory. No, I would see in you nothing which death 
can efface. You will have in that image only immortal 
traits. I shall behold you such as you were in your last 
hours under the hand of God, when His glory began to 
dawn upon you. ‘There shall I see you more triumphant 
than at Fribourg and at Rocroy; and ravished by so glorious 
a triumph, I shall give thanks in the beautiful words of the 
well-beloved disciple, ‘“This is the victory that overcometh 
the world, even our faith.” Enjoy, O prince, this victory, 
enjoy it forever, through the everlasting efficacy of that 


FUNERAL ORATION FOR LouIs BOURBON Hrs 


sacrifice. Accept these last efforts of a voice once familiar 
to you. With you these discourses shall end. Instead of 
deploring the death of others, great prince, I would hence- 
forth learn from you to render my own holy; happy, if 
reminded by these white locks of the account which I must 
give of my ministry; I reserve for the flock, which I have 
to feed with the word of life, the remnants of a voice which 
falters, and an ardor which is fading away. 


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The Redeemer’s Tears 





JOHN HOWE 


OHN HOWE, the great Puritan divine, was born 

in 1630 and died in 1706. He was educated at 
Cambridge, and was for a time fellow and chaplain at 
Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1656 he was appointed 
domestic chaplain to Cromwell, and the reader of Howe’s 
sermons will have some idea of how strongly religion 
gripped the minds of the Puritans of England when he 
reflects that it was such a preacher as this whom Cromwell 
chose for his chaplain. Although a man of great sincerity 
and courage, Howe was also a man of catholicity of spirit. 
Of one of his persecutors he said that he expected to meet 
him one day in “that place where Luther and Zwingli 
well agreed.”” The sermons of the Puritan divines are 
marred by interminable divisions and subdivisions, and one 
tries in vain to conceive of the temper of the congrega- 
tions which gladly tolerated such length, subtle analysis, 
pedantic allusion and tiresome classification. Yet these 
Puritan divines were prophets of God and spoke to the 
conscience of the nation. ‘Their sermons have strong intel- 
lectual fibre, elevation of thought, formidable logic, and 
withal a true evangelical fervor. One of Howe’s hearers 
said of him, “He was so long laying the cloth that she 
always despaired of the dinner.”’ But for those who have 
patience with his slowness of attack and his baffling and 
confusing divisions, the perusal of Howe will not be with- 
out profit. Because of the limitations of space, I have had 
to delete large portions from the sermon selected for this 
volume, ‘““The Redeemer’s Tears Over Lost Souls.” 

In the midst of this great reasoner’s discourse, one 
comes upon not-to-be-forgotten sentences such as this, 
where he is urging the spiritually dry and barren to wrestle 
with God: “He hath smitten rocks ere now, and made 


127 





128 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





the waters gush out; nor is his hand shortened nor his ear 
heavy. The danger is not that he will be inexorable, but 
that thou shouldst.”’ Or this on Christ’s tears: “And re- 
member that he who shed tears, did, from the same foun- 
tain of love and mercy, shed blood too.” 


The Redeemer’s Tears 


“And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept 
over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in 
this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but 
now they are hid from thine eyes” (Luke 19:41, 42). 


FE have here a compassionate lamentation in the 
midst of asolemn triumph. He beheld the city, ’tis 
said, and wept over it. ‘Iwo things concur to 
make up the cause of this sorrow:—The greatness of the 
calamity; Jerusalem, once so dear to God, was to suffer, 
not a scar, but a ruin;—‘‘The days shall come upon thee, 
that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and com- 
pass thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the 
ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not 
leave in thee one stone upon another:’ and—The lost 
opportunity of preventing it;—"If thou hadst known, even 
thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto 
thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.’’ And 
again, ‘“Thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.” 
First, The calamity was greater in his eyes, than it can 
be in ours. His large and comprehensive mind could take 
the compass of this sad case. Our thought cannot reach far, 
yet we can apprehend what may make this case very deplor- 
able; we can consider Jerusalem as the city of the great 
King, where was the palace and throne of the Majesty of 
heaven, vouchsafing to ‘‘dwell with men on earth.” Here 
the Divine light and glory had long shone; here was the 
sacred Shechinah, the dwelling-place of the Most High, 
the symbols of his presence, the seat of worship, the mercy- 
seat, the place of receiving addresses, and of dispensing 
favours; ‘The house of prayer for all nations.’ ‘To his own 


129 





130 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


people this was the city of their solemnities, whither the 
tribes were wont to go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the 
testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the 
Lord: for there were set thrones of judgment, the thrones 
of the house of David. He that was so great a lover of 
the souls of men, how grateful and dear to his heart had 
the place been, where through the succession of many by- 
‘past ages the great God did use (though more obscurely ) 
to unfold his kind propensions towards sinners, to hold 
solemn treaties with them, to make himself known, to draw 
and allure souls into his own holy worship and acquaintance |! 
And that now the dismal prospect presents itself of desola- 
tion and ruin, ready to overwhelm all this glory! and lay 
waste the dwellings of Divine love! his sorrow must be 
conceived proportionable to the greatness of this desolating 
change. 

Secondly, And the opportunity of prevention was quite 
lost! ‘There was an opportunity: “‘He was sent to the lost 
sheep of the house of Israel: he came to them as his own.”’ 
Had they received him, O how joyful a place had Jerusalem 
been! How glorious had the triumphs of God been there, 
had they repented, believed, obeyed! ‘These were the 
‘things that belonged to their peace;” this was their oppor- 
tunity, their “day of visitation;” these were the things that 
might have been done within that day: but it was now too 
late, their day was over, and the things of their peace hid 
from their eyes; and how fervent his desires, they had 
done otherwise! taken the wise and safe course. 

We may therefore thus sum up the meaning and sense 
of these words:—That it is a thing in itself very lament- 
able, and much lamented by our Lord Jesus, when such as 
living under the Gospel, have had a day of grace, and an 
opportunity of knowing the things belonging to their peace, 





THE REDEEMER’S [TEARS 131 


have so outworn that day, and lost their opportunity, that 
the things of their peace are quite hid from their eyes :— 
where we have these distinct heads of discourse to be 
severally considered and insisted on. 

I. What are the things necessary to be known by such 
as live under the Gospel, as immediately belonging to their 
peace? Where we are more particularly to inquire,—l. 
What those things themselves are—2. What sort of knowl- 
edge of them it is that here is meant, and made necessary. 

What the things are which belong to the peace of a 
people living under the Gospel. ‘The things belonging to a 
- people’s peace, are not throughout the same with all. Liv- 
ing, or not living, under the Gospel makes a considerable 
difference in the matter. Before the incarnation and public 
appearance of our Lord, something was not necessary 
among the Jews, that afterwards became necessary. It was 
sufficient to them before, to believe in a Messiah to come, 
more indefinitely. Afterwards he plainly tells them, “If ye 
believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.’ Be- 
lieving in Christ cannot be necessary to pagans that never 
heard of him, as a duty, howsoever necessary it may be as 
a means. ‘Their not believing in him cannot be itself a sin, 
though by it they should want remedy for their other sins. 
But it more concerns us who do live under the Gospel, to 
apprehend aright what is necessary for ourselves. ‘The 
Gospel finds us in a state of apostasy from God, both as our 
sovereign Ruler, and sovereign Good, not apt to obey and 
glorify him, as the former, nor enjoy him, and be satisfied 
in him, as the latter. Repentance towards God cures and 
removes this disaffection of our minds and hearts towards 
him, under both these notions. By it the whole soul turns 
to him, with this sense and resolution: “I have been a re- 
bellious disloyal wretch, against the high authority and most 





132 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


rightful government of him who gave me breath, and whose 
creature I am. I will live no longer thus. Lo now I come 
back unto thee, O Lord, thou art my Lord and God. Thee 
I now design to serve and obey, as the Lord of my life; thee 
I will fear, unto thee I subject myself, to live no longer 
after my own will, but thine.” 

II. Such as live under the Gospel have a day, or a 
present opportunity, for the obtaining the knowledge of 
these things immediately belonging to their peace, and of 
whatsoever is besides necessary thereunto. I say nothing 
what opportunities they have who never lived under the 
Gospel, who yet no doubt might generally know more than 
they do; and know better what they do know. It suffices us 
who enjoy the Gospel, to understand our own advantages 
thereby. Nor, as to those who do enjoy it, is every one’s 
day of equal clearness. How few in comparison, have ever 
seen such a day as Jerusalem at this time did! made by the 
immediate beams of the Sun of righteousness! our Lord 
himself vouchsafing to be their Instructor, so speaking as 
never man did; and with such authority as far outdid their 
other teachers, and astonished the hearers. In what trans- 
ports did he use to leave those that heard him, wheresoever 
he came, wondering at the gracious words that came out of 
his mouth! And with what mighty and beneficial works 
was he wont to recommend his doctrine, shining in the 
glorious power, and savouring of the abundant mercy of 
heaven, so as every apprehensive mind might see the Deity 
was incarnate, God was come down to treat with men, and 
allure them into the knowledge and love of himself. No 
such day hath been seen this many an age. Yet whitherso- 
ever the same Gospel, for substance, comes, it also makes a 
day of the same kind, and affords always true, though 





THe REDEEMER’S TEARS 133 


diminished light; whereby, however, the things of our peace 
might be understood and known. For instance, 

1. We have the true and distinct state of the quarrel 
between God and us. Pagans have understood somewhat 
of the apostasy of man from God; that he is not in the same 
state wherein he was at first. But while they have under- 
stood that something was amiss, they could scarce tell what. 
The Gospel reveals the universal pravity of the degenerate 
nature even of all men, and of every faculty in man. The 
Gospel impleads men as rebels against their rightful Lord; 
but of this treason against the Majesty of heaven men little 
suspect themselves till they are told. The Gospel tells them 
so plainly, represents the matter in so clear light, that they 
need only to contemplate themselves in that light, and they 
may see that so it is. Men may indeed, by resolved, stiff 
winking, create to themselves a darkness amidst the clearest 
light. But open thine eyes, man, thou that livest under the 
Gospel, set thyself to view thine own soul, thou wilt find it is 
day with thee; thou hast a day, by being under the Gospel, 
and light enough to see that this is the posture of thy soul, 
and the state of thy case God-ward. And it is a great 
matter towards the understanding the things of thy peace, 
to know aright what is the true state of the quarrel between 
God and thee. 

2. ‘The Gospel affords light to know what the issue of 
this quarrel is sure to be, if it go on, and there be no recon- 
ciliation. It gives us other and plainer accounts of the 
punishment of the other world; more fully represents the 
extremity and perpetuity of the future miseries. Gives us 
to understand what accession men’s own unaltered vicious 
habits will have to their miseries; their own outrageous lusts 
and passions, which here they made it their business to 
satisfy, becoming their insatiable tormentors; that they are 





134 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


to receive “the things done in the body, according to what 
they have done;” and that “what they have sowed, the same 
also they are to reap;” and what their own guilty reflections 
will contribute, the bitings and gnawings of the worm that 
dies not, the venomous corrosions of the viper bred in their 
own bosoms, and now become a full-grown serpent; what 
the society and insultation of devils, with whom they are to 
partake in woes and torments, and by whom they have been 
seduced and trained into that cursed partnership and com- 
munion. 

3. It also represents God to you as reconcilable through 
a Mediator. In that Gospel “peace is preached to you, by 
Jesus Christ.’ That Gospel lets you see God in Christ 
reconciling the world unto himself, that sin may not be im- 
puted to them. That Gospel proclaims glory to God in the 
highest, peace on earth, goodwill towards men. So did the 
voices of angels sum up the glad tidings of the Gospel, when 
that Prince of Peace was born into the world. It tells you 
‘God desires not the death of sinners, but that they may 
turn and live; that he would ‘‘have all men be saved, and 
come to the knowledge of the truth.”’ 

III. ‘This day hath its bounds and limits, so that when 
it is over and lost with such, the things of their peace are 
for ever hid from their eyes. And that this day is not 
infinite and endless, we see in the present instance. Jerusa- 
lem had her day; but that day had its period, we see it comes 
to this at last, that now the things of her peace are hid 
from her eyes. We generally see the same thing, in that 
sinners are so earnestly pressed to make use of the present 
time. ‘Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your 
hearts, in the Psalms, quoted and urged in Hebrews. They 
are admonished to seek the Lord while he may be found, to 
call upon him while he is nigh. It seems some time he will 





THE REDEEMER’S TEARS 135 


not be found, and will be afar off. ‘They are told this is 
the accepted time, this is the day of salvation. 

This day, with any place or people, supposes a precedent 
night when the day-spring from on high had not visited 
their horizon, and all within it sat in darkness, and in the 
region and shadow of death. Yes, and there was a time, we 
know, of very general darkness, when the Gospel day, “the 
day of visitation,’ had not yet dawned upon the world; 
‘times of ignorance,’ wherein God as it were winked upon 
the nations of the earth; the beams of his eye did in a sort 
overshoot them. But when the eyelids of the morning open 
upon any people, and light shines to them with direct beams, 
they are now commanded to repent, limited to the present 
point of time with such peremptoriness, as that noble 
Roman used towards a proud prince, asking time to delib- 
erate upon the proposal made to him of withdrawing his 
forces that molested some of the allies of that state; he 
draws a line about him with the end of his rod, and requires 
him now, out of hand, before he stirred out of that circle 
to make his choice, whether he would be a friend or enemy 
to the people of Rome. So are sinners to understand the 
state of their own case. The God of thy life, sinner, in 
whose hands thy times are, doth with much higher right 
limit thee to the present time, and expects thy present an- 
swer to his just and merciful offers and demands. He cir- 
cumscribes thy day of grace; it is enclosed on both parts, 
and hath an evening as well as morning; as it had a fore- 
going, so hath it a subsequent night, and the latter, if not 
more dark, yet usually much more stormy than the former! 
For God shuts up this day in much displeasure, which hath 
terrible effects. If it be not expressly told you what the 
condition of that night is that follows your Gospel day; if 
the watchman being asked, ‘“‘What of the night?” do only 








136 GREAT SERMONS: OF THE WORLD 





answer it cometh as well as the morning came; black events 
are signified by that more awful silence. Or ’tis all one if 
you call it a day; there is enough to distinguish it from the 
day of grace. The Scriptures call such a calamitous season 
indifferently either by the name of night or day; but the 
latter name is used with some or other adjunct, to signify 
day is not meant in the pleasant or more grateful sense: a 
day of wrath, an evil day, a day of gloominess and thick 
darkness, not differing from the most dismal night; and to 
be told the morning of such a day is coming, is all one, as 
that the evening is coming of a bright and a serene day. 

1. That there is a great difference between the ends 
and limits of the day or season of grace as to particular 
persons, and in reference to the collective body of a people, 
inhabiting this or that place. 

2. As to both there is a difference between the ending 
of such a day, and intermissions, or dark intervals, that 
may be in it. The Gospel may be withdrawn from such a 
people and be restored. 

3. As to particular persons, there may be much differ- 
ence between such as, while they lived under the Gospel, 
gained the knowledge of the principal doctrines, or of the 
sum or substance, of Christianity, though without any sanc- 
tifying effect or impression upon their hearts, and such as, 
through their own negligence, lived under it in total igno- 
rance hereof. The day of grace may not be over with the 
former, though they should never live under the ministry of 
the Gospel more. Whereas, with the other sort, when they 
no longer enjoy the external means, the day of grace is like 
to be quite over, so as that there may be no more hope in 
their case than in that of pagans in the darkest parts of the 
world; and perhaps much less, as their guilt hath been much 
greater by their neglect of so great and important things. 





THE REDEEMER’S [TEARS 137 


IV. If with any that have lived under the Gospel, their 
day is quite expired, and the things of their peace now for 
ever hid from their eyes, this is in itself a most deplorable 
case, and much lamented by our Lord Jesus himself. ‘That 
the case is in itself most deplorable, who sees not? A soul 
lost! a creature capable of God! upon its way to him! near 
to the kingdom of God! shipwrecked in the port! O sin- 
ner, from how high a hope art thou fallen! into what depths 
of misery and woe! And that it was lamented by our Lord, 
is in the text. He beheld the city, and wept over it. 

And now let us consider what use is to be made of all 
this. And though nothing can be useful to the persons 
themselves, whom the Redeemer thus laments as lost, yet 
that he doth so, may be of great use to others. 

Use. Which will partly concern those who do justly 
apprehend this is not their case; and partly such as may be 
in great fear that it is. 

For such as have reason to persuade themselves it is not 
their case. The best ground upon which any can confidently 
conclude this, is that they have in this their present day, 
through the grace of God, already effectually known the 
things of their peace, such, viz., as have sincerely, with all 
their hearts and souls, turned to God, taken him to be their 
God, and devoted themselves to him, to be his; intrusting 
and subjecting themselves to the saving mercy and govern- 
ing power of the Redeemer, according to the tenor of the 
gospel-covenant, from which they do not find their hearts 
to swerve or decline, but resolve, through Divine assistance, 
to persevere herein all their days. Now for such as with 
whom things are already brought to that comfortable con- 
clusion, I only say to them, 

Rejoice and bless God that so it is. Christ your Re- 
deemer rejoices with you, and over you; you may collect 





138 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


it from his contrary resentment of their case who are past 
hope; if he weep over them, he, no doubt, rejoices over 
you. There is joy in heaven concerning you. Angels re- 
joice, your glorious Redeemer presiding in the joyful con- 
cert. And should not you rejoice for yourselves? 

Demean yourselves with that care, caution, and dutiful- 
ness that become a state of reconciliation. Bethink your- 
selves that your present peace and friendship with God is 
not original, and continued from thence, but hath been inter- 
rupted and broken; that your peace is not that of constantly 
innocent persons. You stand not in this good and happy 
state because you never offended, but as being reconciled, 
and who therefore were once enemies. And when you 
were brought to know, in that your day, which you have 
enjoyed, the things belonging to your peace, you were made 
to feel the smart and taste the bitterness of your having 
been alienated, and enemies in your minds by wicked works. 
When the terrors of God did beset you round, and his 
arrows stuck fast in you, did you not then find trouble and 
sorrow? were you not in a fearful expectation of wrath and 
fiery indignation to consume and burn you up as adver- 
saries? Would you not then have given all the world for a 
peaceful word or look? for any glimmering hope of peace? 
How wary and afraid should you be of a new breach! How 
should you study acceptable deportments, and to walk 
worthy of God unto all well-pleasing! How strictly careful 
should you be to keep faith with him, and abide stedfast in 
his covenant! How concerned for his interest! and in what 
agonies of spirit, when you behold the eruptions of enmity 
against him from any others! not from any distrust, or fear 
of final prejudice to his interest, but from the apprehension 
of the unrighteousness of the thing itself, and a dutiful love 
to his name, throne, and government. How zealous should 





THE REDEEMER’S [TEARS 139 


you be to draw in others! how fervent in your endeavours, 
within your own sphere, and how large in your desires, ex- 
tended as far as the sphere of the universe, that every knee 
might bow to him, and every tongue confess to him! 

Most earnestly cry to God, and plead with him for his 
Spirit, by whom the vital unitive bond must be contracted 
between God and Christ and your souls. So this will be 
the covenant of life and peace. Lord! how generally do: 
the Christians of our age deceive themselves with a self- 
sprung religion! Divine indeed in the institution, but 
merely human, in respect of the radication and exercise; in 
which respects also it must be divine or nothing. What, 
are we yet to learn that a Divine power must work and form 
our religion in us, as well as Divine authority direct and 
enjoinit? Do all such Scriptures go for nothing that tell us, 
it is God that must create the new heart, and renew the 
right spirit in us; that he must turn us, if ever we be turned; 
that we can never come to Christ, except the Father draw 
us, etc.? Nor is there any cause of discouragement in this, 
if you consider what hath before been said in this discourse. 
Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock 
and it shall be opened to you. Your heavenly Father will 
give his Spirit to them that ask, more readily than parents 
do bread to their children, and not a stone. But what if 
you be put to ask often, and wait long, this doth but the 
more endear the gift, and show the high value of it. You 
are to remember how often you have grieved, resisted and 
vexed this Spirit, and that you have made God wait long 
upon you. What if the absolute sovereign Lord of all ex- 
pect your attendance upon him? He waits to be gracious— 
and blessed are they that wait for him. Renew your appli- 
cations to him. Lay from time to time that covenant be- 
fore you, which yourselves must be wrought up unto a full 





140 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


entire closure with. And if it be not done at one time, try 
yet if it will another, and try again and again. Remember 
it is for your life, for your soul, for your all. But do not 
satisfy yourself with only such faint motions within thee, 
as may only be the effects of thy own spirit, of thy dark, 
dull, listless, sluggish, dead, hard heart, at least not of the 
eficacious regenerating influence of the Divine Spirit. Didst 
thou never hear what mighty workings there have been in 
others, when God hath been transforming and renewing 
them, and drawing them into living union with his Son, and 
himself through him? What an amazing penetrating light 
hath struck into their hearts! Such as when he was making 
the world, enlightened the chaos. Such as hath made them 
see things that concerned them as they truly were, and with 
their own proper face, God, and Christ, and themselves, sin 
and duty, heaven and hell, in their own true appearances! 
How effectually they have been awakened! how the terrors 
of the Almighty have beset and seized their souls! what 
agonies and pangs they have felt in themselves, when the 
voice of God hath said to them, ‘“‘Awake, thou that sleepest, 
and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light!” 
How he hath brought them down at his feet, thrown them 
into the dust, broken them, melted them, made them abase 
themselves, loathe and abhor themselves, filled them with 
sorrow, shame, confusion, and with indignation towards 
their own guilty souls, habituated them to a severity against 
themselves, unto the most sharp, and yet most unforced 
self-accusations, self-judging, and self-condemnation; so as 
even to make them lay claim to hell, and confess the portion 
of devils belonged to them, as their own most deserved 
portion. And if now their eyes have been directed towards 
a Redeemer, and any glimmering of hope hath appeared to 
them; if now they are taught to understand God saying to 





THE REDEEMER’S TEARS 141 


them, Sinner, art thou yet willing to be reconciled, and 
accept a Saviour? O the transport into which it puts them! 
this is life from the dead! What, is there hope for such a 
lost wretch as 1? How tasteful now is that melting invita- 
tion! how pleasant an intimation doth it carry with it! 
‘Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and 
I will give you rest, etc.’’ If the Lord of heaven and earth 
do now look down from the throne of glory, and say, 
“What! sinner, wilt thou despise my favour and pardon, my 
Son, thy mighty, merciful Redeemer, my grace and Spirit 
still ?’’—-What can be the return of the poor abashed wretch, 
overawed by the glory of the Divine Majesty, stung with 
compunction, overcome with the intimation of kindness and 
love? “I have heard of thee, O God, by the hearing of the 
ear, now mine eye seeth thee; wherefore I abhor myself, and 
repent in dust and ashes.”’ So inwardly is the truth of that 
word now felt, ‘“That thou mayest remember and be con- 
founded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy 
shame, when I am pacified towards thee, for all that thou 
hast done, saith the Lord God.” But sinner, wilt thou 
make a covenant with me and my Christ? wilt thou take me 
for thy God, and him for thy Redeemer and Lord? And 
may I, Lord? yet, may I? O admirable grace! wonderful 
sparing mercy! that I was not thrown into hell at my first 
refusal. Yea, Lord, with all my heart and soul. I re- 
nounce the vanities of an empty cheating world, and all the 
pleasures of sin. In thy favour stands my life. Whom 
have I in heaven but thee? whom on earth do I desire be- 
side thee? And O, thou blessed Jesus, thou Prince of the 
kings of the earth, who hast loved me, and washed me from 
my sins in thy blood, and whom the eternal God hath 
exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and 





142 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


remission of sins, I fall before thee, my Lord and my God; 
I here willingly tender my homage at the footstool of thy 
throne. I take thee for the Lord of my life. I absolutely 
surrender and resign myself to thee. Thy love constrains 
me henceforth no more to live to myself, but to thee who 
diedst for me, and didst rise again. And I subject and yield 
myself to thy blessed light and power, O Holy Spirit of 
grace, to be more and more illuminated, sanctified, and pre- 
pared for every good word and work in this world, and for 
an inheritance among them that are sanctified in the other. 
Sinner, never give thy soul leave to be at rest till thou find 
it brought to some such transaction with God (the Father, 
Son and Spirit) as this; so as that thou canst truly say, and 
dost feel thy heart is in it. Be not weary or impatient of 
waiting and striving, till thou canst say, this is now the very 
sense of thy soul. Such things have been done in the world; 
(but O how seldom of latter days!) so God hath wrought 
with men, to save them from going down to the pit, having 
found a ransom for them. And why may he not yet be ex- 
pected to do so? He hath smitten rocks ere now, and made 
the waters gush out; nor is his hand shortened, nor his ear 
heavy. The danger is not, sinner, that he will be inexorable, 
but less thou shouldst. He will be entreated, if thou wouldst 
be prevailed with to entreat his favour with thy whole heart. 

And that thou mayst, and not throw away the soul, and 
so great a hope, through mere sloth, and loathness to be at 
some pains for thy life; let the text, which hath been thy 
directory about the things that belong to thy peace, be also 
thy motive, as it gives thee to behold the Son of God weep- 
ing over such as would not know those things. Shall not 
the Redeemer’s tears move thee? O hard heart! Consider 
what these tears import to this purpose. 





THE REDEEMER’S TEARS 143 


1. They signify the real depth and greatness of the 
misery into which thou art falling. They drop from an 
intellectual and most comprehensive eye, that sees far, and 
pierces deep into things, hath a wide and large prospect; 
takes the comfort of that forlorn state into which unrecon- 
cilable sinners are hastening, in all the horror of it. The 
Son of God did not weep vain and causeless tears, or for a 
light matter; nor did he for himself either spend his own, 
or desire the profusion of others’ tears. ‘Weep not for me, 
O daughters of Jerusalem, etc.’’ He knows the value of 
souls, the weight of guilt, and how low it will press and 
sink them; the severity of God’s justice, and the power of 
his anger, and what the fearful effects of them will be, when 
they finally fall. If thou understandest not these things 
thyself, believe him that did, at least believe his tears. 

2. They signify the sincerity of his love and pity, the 
truth and tenderness of his compassion. Canst thou think 
his deceitful tears? his who never knew guile? was this like 
the rest of his course? And remember that he who shed 
tears, did, from the same fountain of love and mercy, shed 
blood too! Was that also done to deceive? Thou makest 
thyself some very considerable thing indeed, if thou thinkest 
the Son of God counted it worth his while to weep, and 
bleed, and die, to deceive thee into a false esteem of him 
and his love. But if it be the greatest madness imaginable 
to entertain any such thought, but that his tears were sin- 
cere and inartificial, the natural genuine expressions of un- 
dissembled benignity and pity, thou art then to consider 
what love and compassion thou art now sinning against; 
what bowels thou spurnest; and that if thou perishest, ’tis 
under such guilt as the devils themselves are not liable to, 
who never had a Redeemer bleeding for them, nor, that 
we ever find, weeping over them. 





144 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


3. They show the remedilessness of thy case, if thou 
persist in impenitency and unbelief till the things of thy 
peace be quite hid from thine eyes. ‘These tears will then 
be the last issues of (even defeated) love, of love that is 
frustrated of its kind design. Thou mayst perceive in these 
tears the steady unalterable laws of Heaven, the inflexible- 
ness of the Divine justice, that holds thee in adamantine 
bonds, and hath sealed thee up, if thou prove incurably 
obstinate and impenitent, unto perdition; so that even the 
Redeemer himself, he that is mighty to save, cannot at 
length save thee, but only weep over thee, drop tears into 
thy flame, which assuage it not; but (though they have 
another design, even to express true compassion) do yet 
unavoidably heighten and increase the fervour of it, and 
will do so to all eternity. He even tells thee, sinner, ‘Thou 
hast despised my blood, thou shalt yet have my tears.” 
That would have saved thee, these do only lament thee lost. 

But the tears wept over others, as lost and past hope, 
why should they not yet melt thee, while as yet there is 
hope in thy case? If thou be effectually melted in thy very 
soul, and looking to him whom thou hast pierced, dost truly 
mourn over him, thou mayst assure thyself the prospect his 
weeping eye had of lost souls, did not include thee. His 
weeping over thee would argue thy case forlorn and hope- 
less: thy mourning over him will make it safe and happy. 
That it may be so, consider further, that, 

4. They signify how very intent he is to save souls, 
and how gladly he would save thine, if yet thou wilt accept 
of mercy while it may be had. For if he weep over them 
that will not be saved, from the same love that is the spring 
of these tears, would saving mercies proceed to those that 


are become willing to receive them. And that love that — 





THE REDEEMER’S TEARS 145 


wept over them that were lost, how will it glory in them 
that are saved! ‘There his love is disappointed and vexed, 
crossed in its gracious intendment; but here having com- 
passed it, how will he joy over thee with singing, and rest 
in his love! And thou also, instead of being involved in a 
like ruin with the unreconciled sinners of the old Jerusalem, 
shalt be enrolled among the glorious citizens of the new, 
and triumph together with them in eternal glory. 


ts ine 


Pl vl) e 





Man Created in God’s 
Image 





ROBERT SOUTH 


OBERT SOUTH was born at Hackney, England, 
in 1633, and died in 1716. He was as ignoble and 
contemptible in his public life as he was princely in his 
pulpit style. His first efforts were in praise of Cromwell 
and Presbyterianism, but with the Restoration he became 
the friend of royalty and the ridiculer of Puritanism. 
Whatever party was in power, South was able to hold his 
favor and secure promotion. But in spite of this deplor- 
able lack of principle, South was a powerful preacher, or 
rather, sermonizer, for many of his sermons are destitute 
of religion. He had a keen, incisive way of putting things 
—for example, “All creation cracks and bends under the 
wrath of God.” He was a superb handler of the English 
language, and his sermonic style has been justly admired. 
‘It is interesting to know that during the first years of his 
preaching, the sermons of South were the model for Henry 
Ward Beecher. In his “Yale Lectures on Preaching,” 
Beecher says: “I was a great reader of the old sermonizers. 
I read old Robert South through and through; I saturated 
myself with South; I formed much of my style and my 
handling of texts on his methods. I received a vast amount 
of instruction from others of those old sermonizers, who 
were as familiar to me as my own name. I preached a x 
great many sermons while reading these old men, and upon 
their discourses I have founded the framework of my own. 
After I preached them, I said to myself, “That will never 
do; I wouldn’t preach that again for all the world.’ But I 
was learning and nobody ever tripped me up. Whales take 
in vast quantities of water for the sake of the animalcula 
it contains, and then blow out the water while keeping in 
the food. People do pretty much the same. They don’t 


147 





148 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


believe half you say. The part that is nutritious they 
keep, the rest they let alone.” 

The best known sermon of South is the sermon on ‘‘Man 
in the Image of God.” In this sermon appears the famous 
sentence, so often quoted: “An Aristotle was but the 
rubbish of an Adam, and Athens but the rudiments of 
Paradise.” 


~ 


Man Created in God’s Image 


“So God created man in His own image, in the image of 


God created He him (Gen. 1:27). 


OW hard it is for natural reason to discover a crea- 
H tion before revealed, or being revealed to believe it, 
the strange opinions of the old philosophers, and 
the infidelity of modern atheists, is too sad a demonstration. 
To run the world back to its first original and infancy, and 
(as it were) to view nature in its cradle, to trace the out- 
goings of the Ancient of days in the first instance and speci- 
men of his creative power, is a research too great for any 
mortal inquiry. And we might continue our scrutiny to the 
end of the world, before natural reason would be able to 
find out when it began. 

In this chapter we have God surveying the works of the 
creation, and leaving this general impress on character upon 
them, that they were exceeding good. What an omnipo- 
tence wrought we have an omniscience to approve. But as 
it is reasonable to imagine that there is more of design, and 
consequently more of perfection, in the last work, we have 
God here giving his last stroke, and summing up all into 
man, the whole into a part, the universe into an individual: 
so that, whereas in other creatures we have but the trace of 
his footsteps, in man we have the draught of his hand. In 
him were united all the scattered perfections of the crea- 
ture; all the graces and ornaments, all the airs and features, 
of being were abridged into this small, yet full, system of 
nature and divinity: as we might well imagine that the 
great artificer would be more than ordinarily exact in 


drawing his own picture. It is, in short, that universal 


149 





150 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





rectitude of all the faculties of the soul by which they stand 
apt and disposed to their respective offices and operations: 
which will be more fully set forth by taking a distinct sur- 
vey of it, in the several faculties belonging to the soul. 

I. In the understanding. 

II. In the will. 

If. In the passions or affections. 

I. And first for its noblest faculty, the understanding; 
it was then sublime, clear and aspiring, and, as it were, the 
soul’s upper region, lofty and serene, free from the vapours 
and disturbances of the inferior affections. It was the 
leading, controlling faculty; all the passions wore the 
colours of reason; it did not so much persuade, as command; 
it was not consul, but dictator. Discourse was then almost 
as quick as intuition; it was nimble in proposing, firm in 
concluding; it could sooner determine than now it can dis- 
pute. 

Now as there are two great functions of the soul, con- 
templation and practice, according to that general division 
of objects, some of which only entertain our speculation, 
others also employ our actions: so the understanding with 
relation to these, not because of any distinction in the 
faculty itself, is accordingly divided into speculative and 
practick; in both of which the image of God was then 
apparent. 

Now it was Adam’s happiness in the state of innocence 
to have these clear and unsullied. He came into the world 
a philosopher, which sufhciently appeared by his writing 
the nature of things upon their names; he could view 
essences in themselves, and read forms without the comment 
of their respective properties; he could see consequents yet 
dormant in their principles, and effects yet unborn, and in 
the womb of their causes; his understanding could almost 





MAN CREATED IN Gop’s IMAGE 151 


pierce into future contingents, his conjectures improving 
even to prophecy, or the certainties of prediction; till his 
fall, he was ignorant of nothing but of sin; or at least he 
rested in the notion, without the smart of the experiment. 
Could any difficulty have been proposed, the resolution 
would have been as early as the proposal; it could not have 
had time to settle into doubt. There was then no poring, 
no struggling with memory, no straining, for invention; his 
faculties were quick and expedite; they answered without 
knocking, they were ready upon the first summons, there 
were freedom and firmness in all their operations. I con- 
fess, it is dificult for us, who date our ignorance from our 
first being, and were still bred up with the same infirmities 
about us with which we were born, to raise our thoughts and 
imagination to those intellectual perfections that attended 
our nature in the time of innocence, as it is for a peasant, 
bred up in the obscurities of a cottage, to fancy in his mind 
the unseen splendours of a court. But by rating positives 
by their privatives, and other arts of reason, by which dis- 
course supplies the want of the reports of sense, we may 
collect the excellency of the understanding then by the glor- 
ious remainders of it now, and guess at the stateliness of 
the building by the magnificence of its ruins, All those arts, 
rarities and inventions which vulgar minds gaze at, the in- 
genious pursue, and all admire, are but the reliques of an 
intellect defaced with sin and time. We admire it now, only 
as antiquaries do a piece of old coin, for the stamp it once 
bore, and not for those vanishing lineaments and disappear- 
ing draughts that remain upon it at present. And certainly 
that must needs have been very glorious, the decays of which 
are so admirable. He that is comely, when old and de- 
crepit, surely was very beautiful when he was young. An 








r$2 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





Aristotle was but the rubbish of an Adam, and Athens but 
the rudiments of Paradise. 

2. The image of God was no less resplendent in that 
which we call man’s practical understanding; namely, that 
storehouse of the soul, in which are treasured up the rules 
of action and the seeds of morality. Where we must ob- 
serve, that many who deny all connate notions in the specu- 
lative intellect do yet admit them in this. Now of this sort 
are these maxims; that God is to be worshipped; that 
parents are to be honoured; that a man’s word is to be 
kept, and the like: which, being of universal influence, as to 
the regulation of the behaviour and converse of mankind, 
are the ground of all virtue and civility, and the foundation 
of religion. 

It was the privilege of Adam innocent to have these 
notions also firm and untainted, to carry his monitor in his 
bosom, his law in his heart, and to have such a conscience 
as might be its own casuist: and certainly those actions must 
needs be regular where there is an identity between the rule 
and the faculty. His own mind taught him a due depend- 
ence upon God, and chalked out to him the just proportions 
and measures of behaviour to his fellow-creatures. He had 
no catechism but the creation, needed no study but reflexion, 
read no book but the volume of the world, and that too, not 
for rules to work by, but for objects to work upon. Reason 
was his tutor, and first principles his magna moralia. ‘The 
decalogue of Moses was but a transcript, not an original. 
All the laws of nations and wise decrees of states, the 
statutes of Solon and the twelve tables, were but a para- 
phrase upon this standing rectitude of nature, this fruitful 
principle of justice, that was ready to run out and enlarge 
itself into suitable determinations, upon all emergent objects 
and occasion. Justice then was neither blind to discern, 





MAN CREATED IN Gop’s IMAGE 153 





nor lame to execute. It was not subject to be imposed upon 
by a deluded fancy, nor yet to be bribed by a glozing appe- 
tite, to turn the balance to a false and dishonest sentence. 
In all its directions of the inferior faculties, it conveyed its 
suggestions with clearness, and enjoined them with power; 
it had the passions in perfect subjection; and though its 
command over them was but suasive and political, yet it had 
the force of coaction, and despotical. It was not then, as it 
is now, where the conscience has only power to disapprove, 
and to protest against the exorbitances of the passions; and 
rather to wish, than make, them otherwise. ‘The voice of 
conscience now is low and weak, chastising the passions, as 
old Eli did his lustful, domineering sons; Not so, my sons, 
not so; but the voice of conscience then was not, This 
should, or This ought to, be done; but, This must, This 
shall be done. It spoke like a legislator; the thing spoke 
was a law; and the manner of speaking it a new obligation. 
In short, there was as great a disparity between the practi- 
cal dictates of the understanding then and now as there is 
between empire and advice, counsel and command, between 
a companion and a governour. 

And thus much for the image of God, as it shone in 
man’s understanding. 

II. Let us in the next place take a view of it, as it was 
stamped upon the will. ‘The will of man in the state of 
innocence had an entire freedom, a perfect equipendency 
and indifference to either part of the contradiction, to stand 
or not to stand, to accept or not accept the temptation. I 
will grant the will of man now to be as much of a slave as 
any one will have it, and be only free to sin; that is, instead 
of a liberty, to have only a licentiousness; yet certainly this 
is not nature, but chance. We were not born crooked; we 
learnt these windings and turnings of the serpent; and 





154 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


therefore it cannot but be a blasphemous piece of ingrati- 
tude to ascribe them to God, and to make the plague of our 
nature the condition of our creation. 

The will was then ductile, and pliant to all the motions 
of right reason; it met the dictates of a clarified under- 
standing half way. And the active informations of the 
intellect, filling the passive reception of the will, like form 
closing with matter, grew actuate into a third and distinct 
perfection of practice. [he understanding and will never 
disagreed; for the proposals of the one never thwarted the 
inclinations of the other. Yet neither did the will servilely 
attend upon the understanding, but as a favourite does upon 
his prince, where the service is privilege and preferment; or 
as Solomon’s servants waited upon him, it admired its wis- 
dom, and heard its prudent dictates and counsels, both the 
direction and the reward of its obedience. It is indeed the 
nature of this faculty to follow a superior guide, to be 
drawn by the intellect; but then it was drawn as a tri- 
umphant chariot, which at the same time both follows and 
triumphs; while it obeyed this, it commanded the other 
faculties. It was subordinate, not enslaved to the under- 
standing: not as a servant to a master, but as a queen to her 
king, who both acknowledges a subjection, and yet retains a 
majesty. 

Pass we now downward from man’s intellect and will, 

III. ‘To the passions, which have their residence and 
situation chiefly in the sensitive appetite. For we must 
know that, inasmuch as man is a compound, and mixture of 
flesh as well as spirit, the soul, during its abode in the body, 
does all things by the mediation of these passions and in- 
ferior affections. 

And first, for the grand leading affection of all, which is 
love. This is the great instrument and engine of nature, the 





MAN CREATED IN Gop’s IMAGE 155 


bond and cement of society, the spring and spirit of the 
universe. Love is such an affection as cannot so properly 
be said to be in the soul as the soul to be in that. It is the 
whole man wrapt up into one desire; all the powers, vigour 
and faculties of the soul abridged into one inclination. And 
it is of that active, restless nature that it must of necessity 
exert itself; and like the fire, to which it is so often com- 
pared, it is not a free agent, to choose whether it will heat 
or no, but it streams forth by natural results and unavoid- 
able emanations. So that it will fasten upon any inferior, 
unsuitable object, rather than none at all. The soul may 
sooner leave off to subsist than to love; and, like the vine, 
it withers and dies, if it has nothing to embrace. Now this 
affection in the state of innocence was happily pitched upon 
its right object; it flamed up in direct fervours of devotion 
to God, and in collateral emissions of charity to its neigh- 
bour. It was not then only another and more cleanly name 
for lust. It had none of those impure heats that both repre- 
sent and deserve hell. It was a vestal and a virgin fire, and 
differed as much from that which usually passes by this 
name nowadays as the vital heat from the burning of a 
_ fever. 

Then, for the contrary passion of hatred. This, we 
know, is the passion of defiance, and there is a kind of 
adversation and hostility included in its very essence and 
being. But then (if there could have been hatred in the 
world, when there was scarce anything odious) it would 
have acted within the compass of its proper object. Like 
aloes, bitter indeed, but wholesome. ‘There would have 
been no rancour, no hatred of our brother: an innocent 
nature could hate nothing that was innocent. In a word, 
so great is the commutation that the soul then hated only 
that which now only it loves, that is, sin. 





156 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





And if we may bring anger under this head, as being 
according to some, a transient hatred, or at least very like 
it: this also, as unruly as now it is, yet then it vented itself 
by the measures of reason. ‘There was no such thing as 
the transports of malice, or the violences of revenge: no 
rendering evil for evil, when evil was truly a nonentity, and 
nowhere to be found. Anger then was like the sword of 
justice, keen, but innocent and righteous: it did not act like 
fury, and then call itself zeal. It always espoused God’s 
honour, and never kindled upon anything but in order to a 
sacrifice. It sparkled like the coal upon the altar, with the 
fervours of piety, the heats of devotion, the sallies and 
vibrations of an harmless activity. In the next place, for 
the lightsome passion of joy. It was not that which now 
often usurps this name—that trivial, vanishing, superficial 
thing, that only gilds the apprehension, and plays upon the 
surface of the soul. It was not the mere crackling of thorns, 
a sudden blaze of the spirits, the exultation of a tickled 
fancy or a pleased appetite. Joy was then a masculine and 
a severe thing, the recreation of the judgment, the jubilee of 
reason. It was the result of a real good, suitably applied. 
It commenced upon the solidities of truth and the substance 
of fruition. It did not run out in vice, or undecent erup- 
tions, but filled the soul, as God does the universe, silently 
and without noise. It was refreshing, but composed; like 
the pleasantness of youth tempered with the gravity of age; 
or the mirth of a festival managed with the silence of 
contemplation. 

And, on the other side, for sorrow. Had any loss or 
disaster made but room for grief, it would have moved 
according to the severe allowances of prudence, and the pro- 
portions of the provocation. It would not have sallied out 
into complaint or loudness, nor spread itself upon the face, 





MAN CREATED IN Gop’s IMAGE 157 


and write sad stories upon the forehead. No wringing of 
the hands, knocking the breast, or wishing one’s self unborn; 
all which are but the ceremonies of sorrow, the pomp and 
ostentation of an effeminate grief: which speak not so much 
the greatness of the misery as the smallness of the mind. 
Tears may spoil the eyes, but not wash away the affliction. 
Sighs may exhaust the man, but not eject the burden. Sor- 
row then would have been as silent as thoughts, as severe 
as philosophy. It would have rested in inward senses, tacit 
dislikes, and the whole scene of it been transacted in sad 
and silent reflexions. 

Then again for hope. Though indeed the fulness and 
affluence of man’s enjoyments in the state of innocence might 
seem to leave no place for hope, in respect of any further 
addition, but only of the prorogation and future continu- 
ance of what already he possessed: yet, doubtless, God, who 
made no faculty but also provided it with a proper object, 
upon which it might exercise and lay out itself, even in its 
greatest innocence, did then exercise man’s hopes with the 
expectations of a better paradise, or a more intimate admis- 
sion to himself. For it is not imaginable that Adam could 
fix upon such poor, thin enjoyments as riches, pleasure, and 
the gaieties of an animal life. Hope indeed was always 
the anchor of the soul, yet certainly it was not to catch or 
fasten upon such mud. And if, as the Apostle says, no man 
hopes for that which he sees, much less could Adam then 
hope for such things as he saw through. 

And lastly, for the affection of fear. It was then the 
instrument of caution, not of anxiety; a guard, and not a 
torment to the breast that had it. It is now indeed an un- 
happiness, the disease of the soul; it flies from a shadow, 
and makes more dangers than it avoids; it weakens the 
judgment, and betrays the succours of reason: so hard is it 





158 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


to tremble and not to err, and to hit the mark with a shaking 
hand. Then it fixed upon him who is only to be feared, 
God: and yet with a filial fear, which at the same time both 
fears and loves. It was awe without amazement, dread 
without distraction. There was then a beauty even in this 
very paleness. It was the colour of devotion, giving a 
lustre to reverence and a gloss to humility. 

Thus did the passions then act without any of their 
present jars, combats or repugnances; all moving with the 
beauty of uniformity, and the stillness of composure. Like 
a well-governed army, not for fighting, but for rank and 
order. I confess the scriptures do not expressly attribute 
these several endowments to Adam in his first estate. But 
all that I have said, and much more, may be drawn out of 
that short aphorism, God made man upright. And since 
the opposite weaknesses now infest the nature of man fallen, 
if we will be true to the rule of contraries, we must conclude 
that those perfections were the lot of man innocent. 

Now from this so exact and regular composure of the 
faculties, all moving in their due place, each striking in its 
proper time, there arose, by natural consequence, the crown- 
ing perfection of all, a good conscience. For, as in the body, 
when the principal parts, as the heart and liver, do their 
ofhces, and all the inferior, smaller vessels act orderly and 
duly, there arises a sweet enjoyment upon the whole, which 
we call health: so in the soul, when the supreme faculties of 
the will and understanding move regularly, the inferior pas- 
sions and affections following, there arises a serenity and 
complacency upon the whole soul, infinitely beyond the 
greatest bodily pleasures, the highest quintessence and 
elixir of worldly delights. ‘here is in this case a kind of 
fragrancy, and spiritual perfume upon the conscience; much 
like what Isaac spoke of his son’s garments; that the scent 





MAN CREATED IN Gop’s IMAGE 159 


of them was like the smell of a field which the Lord had 
blessed. Such a freshness and flavour is there upon the soul, 
when daily watered with the actions of a virtuous life. 
Whatsoever is pure is also pleasant. 

Having thus surveyed the image of God in the soul of 
man, we are not to omit now those characters of majesty 
that God imprinted upon the body. He drew some traces 
of his image upon this also; as much as a spiritual substance 
could be pictured upon a corporeal. Adam was then no less 
glorious in his externals; he had a beautiful body, as well as 
an immortal soul. The whole compound was like a well 
built temple, stately without, and sacred within. ‘The ele- 
ments were at perfect union and agreement in his body; and 
their contrary qualities served not for the dissolution of the 
compound, but the variety of the composure. Galen, who 
had no more divinity than what his physick taught him, 
barely upon the consideration of this so exact frame of the 
body, challenges anyone, upon an hundred years study, to 
find how any the least fibre, or most minute particle, might 
be more commodiously placed, either for the advantage of 
use or comeliness. His stature erect, and tending upwards 
to his centre; his countenance majestic and comely, with the 
lustre of a native beauty that scorned the poor assistance 
of art, or the attempts of imitation; his body of so much 
quickness and agility, that it did not only contain, but also 
represent, the soul: for we might well suppose, that, where 
God did deposit so rich a jewel, he would suitably adorn the 
case. It was a fit workhouse for sprightly vivid faculties 
to exercise and exert themselves in. A fit tabernacle for an 
immortal soul, not only to dwell in, but to contemplate 
upon: where it might see the world without travel; it being 
a lesser scheme of the creation, nature contracted, a little 
cosmography, or map of the universe. Neither was the 





160 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


body then subject to distempers, to die by piecemeal, and 
languish under coughs, catarrhs or consumptions. Adam 
knew no disease, so long as temperance from the forbidden 
fruit secured him. Nature was his physician; and innocence 
and abstinence would have kept him healthful to immor- 
tality. 

Now the use of this point might be various, but at pres- 
ent it shall be only this; to remind us of the irreparable loss 
that we sustained in our first parents, to show us of how 
fair a portion Adam disinherited his whole posterity by one 
single prevarication. ‘lake the picture of a man in the 
greenness and vivacity of his youth, and in the latter date 
and declensions of his drooping years, and you will scarce 
know it to belong to the same person: there would be more 
art to discern than at first to draw it. The same and greater 
is the difference between man innocent and fallen. He is, as 
it were, a new kind or species; the plague of sin has even 
altered his nature, and eaten into his very essentials. ‘The 
image of God is wiped out, the creatures have shook off his 
yoke, renounced his sovereignty, and revolted from his 
dominion. Distempers and diseases have shattered the ex- 
cellent frame of his body; and, by a new dispensation, 
immortality is swallowed up of mortality. The same dis- 
aster and decay also has invaded his spirituals: the passions 
rebel, every faculty would usurp and rule; and there are so 
many governours that there can be no government. The 
light within us is become darkness; and the understanding, 
that should be eyes to the blind faculty of the will, is blind 
itself, and so brings all the inconveniences that attend a 
blind follower under the conduct of a blind guide. He that 
would have a clear, ocular demonstration of this, let him 
reflect upon that numerous litter of strange, senseless, ab- 
surd opinions, that crawl about the world, to the disgrace 





MAN CREATED IN Gop’s IMAGE 161 


of reason, and the unanswerable reproach of a broken intel- 
lect. 

The two great perfections, that both adorn and exer- 
cise man’s understanding, are philosophy and religion. For 
the first of these; take it even amongst the professors of it, 
where it most flourished, and we shall find the very first 
notions of common sense debauched by them. For there 
have been such as have asserted, that there is no such thing 
in the world as motion; the contradictions may be true. 
There has not been wanting one that has denied snow to be 
white. Such a stupidity or wantonness had seized upon the 
most raised wits that it might be doubted whether the 
philosophers or the owls of Athens were the quicker sighted. 
But then for religion; what prodigious, monstrous, mis- 
shapen births has the reason of fallen man produced! It 
is now almost six thousand years that far the greatest part 
of the world has had no other religion but idolatry: and 
idolatry certainly is the first-born of folly, the great and 
leading paradox; nay, the very abridgment and sum total of 
all absurdities. For is it not strange that a rational man 
should worship an ox, nay, the image of an ox? that he 
should fawn upon his dog? bow himself before a cat? adore 
leeks and garlic, and shed penitential tears at the smell of a 
deified onion? Yet so did the Egyptians, once the famed 
masters of all arts and learning. And to go a little further; 
we have yet a stranger instance in Isaiah 44:14. 4 man 
hews him down a tree in the wood, and part of it he burns, 
in verse 16, and in verse 17 with the residue thereof he 
maketh a god. With one part he furnishes his chimney, 
with the other his chapel. A strange thing, that the fire 
must consume this part, and then burn incense to that. As 
if there was more divinity in one end of the stick than in the 
other; or as if it could be graved and painted omnipotent, or 





162 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


the nails and the hammer could give it an apotheosis. 
Briefly, so great is the change, so deplorable the degrada- 
tion, of our nature, that, whereas before we bore the image 
of God, we now retain only the image of men. 

In the last place, we learn from hence the excellency of 
Christian religion, in that it is the great and only means that 
God has sanctified and designed to repair the breaches of 
humanity, to set fallen man upon his legs again, to clarify 
his reason, to rectify his will, and to compose and regulate 
his affections. ‘The whole business of our redemption is, in 
short, only to rub over the defaced copy of the creation, to 
reprint God’s image upon the soul, and (as it were) to set 
forth nature in a second and a fairer edition. 

The recovery of which lost image, as it is God’s pleasure 
to command, and our duty to endeavour, so it is in his power 
only to effect. 





The Blessed Dead 





JONATHAN EDWARDS 


ONATHAN EDWARDS, the most famous of Amer- 
J ican theologians and philosophers, was born at South 
Windsor, Connecticut, on the fifth of October, 1703, and 
died at Princeton, New Jersey, in 1758. His father 
was a minister and a graduate of Harvard College, 
and his mother a woman of extraordinary mentality and 
piety. As a child, Edwards gave full promise’ of his 
future achievements. At the age of ten, he wrote an 
essay on the Immateriality of the Soul, and at the age of 
twelve wrote what is said to be an excellent treatise on 
flying spiders. By the time of his graduation from Yale 
College, in 1720, he had dipped deep into the well of 
philosophy. After a brief service with a Presbyterian 
Church in New York and a few years as tutor at Yale 
College, he became the minister of the Congregational 
Church at Northampton, Massachusetts. T re he mar- 
ried Sarah Pierrepont, a great-granddaughter of the cele- 
brated Thomas Hooker. Very early in his preaching 
Edwards began to emphasize the high Calvinistic view 
of the sovereignty of God in the salvation of mankind. 
Under his preaching a notable revival broke out at 
Northampton, and from there spread through the colonies 
and was’known as The Great Awakening. Edwards was 
the leader and defender of this famous revival. In 1749, 
after a dispute which had arisen over the matter of disci- 
pline for those who had been reading improper books, 
Edwards was deposed from his pulpit and congregation. 
From Northampton he went to Stockbridge as village 
pastor and missionary to the Indians. It was here that, in 
four months’ time, he wrote one of the world’s great books 
and America’s chief contribution to philosophy, ‘““The Free- 
dom of the Will,” in which he attempts to refute the 
doctrine of free will. In 1758, he succeeded his son-in-law, 
Aaron Burr, as President of Princeton College, but had 


163 





164 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


been in Princeton for only a few weeks when he died a 
victim to a scourge of smallpox. 

His best known sermon is “Sinners in the Hands of an 
Angry God,” on the text, “Their foot shall slide in due 
time.” “The sermon was preached at Enfield, Connecti- 
cut, and as a warning and rebuke because of the outbreak 
of immorality. Edwards preached often on the goodness 
and the love of God; but whenever his name is mentioned, 
this is the sermon which men associate with him. There is 
much in the sermon which offends the religious sensibilities 
of our day, especially the description of God holding the 
sinner over hell as one would hold a spider or insect over a 
fire. No one could preach in those terms today. Yet the 
pendulum has swung too far in the other direction, and the 
preaching of today, dwelling exclusively upon the love of 
God, is hardly of a nature to produce repentance or let 
men know that God is of purer eyes than to behold 
iniquity. Contemporary accounts of the preaching of the 
sermon tell of the deep impression it made, and how the 
preacher had to stop several times and ask for silence on 
the part of the conscience-stricken, who were crying aloud 
in their distress. 

For this volume I have selected the sermon preached by 
Edwards at the funeral of the celebrated missionary to the 
Indians, David Brainerd, who died in Edwards’ home at 
Northampton in 1747, and whose diary, now a missionary 
classic, was published by Edwards. This funeral sermon 
is a powerful statement of the Christian’s hope concerning 
them that have fallen asleep. 


The Blessed Dead 


“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent 
from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). 


HE Apostle is here giving a reason why he went on 

with such immoveable boldness and steadfastness, 

through such labours, sufferings and dangers, in the 
service of the Lord; for which his enemies, the false teach- 
ers among the Corinthians, sometimes reproached him as 
being beside himself and driven on by a kind of madness. 
In the latter part of the preceding chapter, he informs the 
Christian Corinthians that the reason why he did thus was 
that he firmly believed the promises which Christ had made 
to his faithful servants of a glorious and eternal reward; 
and knew that these present afflictions were light and but for 
a moment in comparison of that far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory. In this chapter he further insists 
on the reason of his constancy in suffering and exposing him- 
self to death in the work of the ministry, even the more 
happy state which he expected after death. ‘This is the sub- 
ject of the text. 

The souls of Christians, when they leave the body, go 
to be with Christ. ‘They do this in the following respects :— 

I. They go to dwell in the same blessed abode with the 
glorified human nature of Christ. 

The human nature of Christ is yet in being. He still 
continues, and will continue to all eternity, to be both God 
and man. His whole human nature remains: not only his 
soul, but also his body. His body rose from the dead; and 
the same that was raised from the dead is exalted and glori- 


165 





166 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


fied at God’s right hand. That which was dead is now alive 
and lives forevermore. 

There is therefore a certain place, a particular part of 
the external creation, to which Christ is gone and where he 
remains. This place is the heaven of heavens: a place be- 
yond all the visible heavens. ‘‘Now that he ascended, what 
is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of 
the earth? He that descended is the same also that as- 
cended up far above all heavens.” ‘This is the same which 
the Apostle calls the third heaven; reckoning the aerial 
heaven as the first, the starry heaven as the second and the 
highest heaven as the third. ‘This is the abode of the holy 
angels; they are called ‘‘the angels of heaven,” “the angels 
which are in heaven,” “‘the angels of God in heaven.”’ They 
are said always to behold the face of the ‘Father which is 
in heaven.” ‘hey are elsewhere often represented as before 
the throne of God, or surrounding his throne in heaven, and 
sent from thence, and descending from thence, on messages 
to this world. ‘hither it is that the souls of departed 
saints are conducted, when they die. hey are not reserved 
in an abode distinct from the highest heaven, a place of rest, 
which they are kept in till the day of judgment, which some 
call the Hades of the happy; but they go directly to heaven 
itself. ‘This is the saint’s home, being their Father’s house. 
They are “pilgrims and strangers”’ on the earth, and this is 
the ‘“‘other and better country” to which they are travelling. 
This is the city to which they belong,—‘‘our conversation, 
or (as the word properly signifies) citizenship, is in heaven.” 
Therefore this undoubtedly is the place to which the Apostle 
refers in the text, when he says, ‘‘We are willing to forsake 
our former house, the body, and to dwell in the same house, 
city or country, wherein Christ dwells”; which is the proper 
import of the words of the original. What can this house, 





THE BLEssEp DEap 167 


or city, or country be but that house which 1s elsewhere 
spoken of as their proper home, their Father’s house, the 
city and country to which they properly belong, whither they 
are travelling all the while they continue in this world, and 
the house, city and country where we know the human na- 
ture of Christ is; this is the saints’ rest; here their hearts are 
while they live; and here their treasure is, “the inheritance 
incorruptible, undefiled and that fadeth not away, that is 
designed for them, is reserved in heaven.”’ Therefore they 
never can have their proper and full rest till they come there. 
So that undoubtedly their souls, when absent from the body 
(when the scriptures represent them as in a state of perfect 
rest) arrive there. “Those two saints who left this world 
to go to their rest in another world without dying, viz., 
Enoch and Elijah, went to heaven. Elijah was seen ascend- 
ing up to heaven, as Christ was; and to the same resting 
place, is there all reason to think, to which those saints go, 
who leave the world to go to their rest by death. Moses, 
when he died in the top of the mount, ascended to the same 
glorious abode with Elias, who ascended without dying. 
They are companions in another world, as they appeared 
together at Christ’s transfiguration. “They were together 
at that time with Christ in the mount when there was a rep- 
resentation of his glory in heaven. Doubtless, also, they 
were together afterwards with him when he was actually 
glorified in heaven. ‘hither undoubtedly it was that the 
soul of Stephen ascended when he expired. ‘The circum- 
stances of his death demonstrate it, as we have an account 
of it. ‘‘He being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up sted- 
fastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus 
standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see 
the heavens opened, and the Son of man (i. e., Jesus in his 
human nature), standing on the right hand of God. Then 





168 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WoRLD 


they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and 
ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, 
and stoned him. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon 
God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Before 
his death he had an extraordinary view of the glory which 
his Saviour had received in heaven, not only for himself, 
but for him and all his faithful followers; that he might be 
encouraged, by the hopes of this glory, cheerfully to lay 
down his life for his sake. Accordingly, he dies in the hope 
of this, saying, “‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” By which 
doubtless he meant, ‘Receive my spirit to be with thee, in 
that glory wherein I have now seen thee, in heaven, at the 
right hand of God.” Thither it was that the soul of the 
penitent thief on the cross ascended. Christ said to him, 
“Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Paradise is 
the same with the third heaven, as appears by Second Cor- 
inthians 12:2-4. ‘There, that which is called the third 
heaven in the second verse, in the fourth verse is called par- 
adise. The departed souls of the Apostles and Prophets 
are in heaven, as is manifest from the words, ‘“‘Rejoice over 
her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets.’ The 
church of God is distinguished in Scripture, from time to 
time, into these two parts: that part of it which is in heaven 
and that which is in earth—‘‘Jesus Christ, of whom the 
whole family in heaven and earth is named”’; ‘‘And having 
made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to re- 
concile all things to himself; by him I say, whether they be 
things in earth, or things in heaven.’’ Now what “things in 
heaven” are they for whom peace has been made by the 
blood of Christ’s cross, and who have by him been recon- 
ciled to God, but the saints in heaven? In like manner we 
read of “God’s gathering together in one all things in 
Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, 





THE BLESSED DEAD 169 


even in him.” ‘The ‘spirits of just men made perfect” are 
in the same ‘“‘city of the living God” with the ‘‘innumerable 
company of angels’ and “Jesus the Mediator of the new 
covenant,” as is manifest. The Church of God is often in 
Scripture called by the name of Jerusalem, and the Apostle 
speaks of the Jerusalem ‘“‘which is above,” or ‘‘which is 
heaven,’ as the mother of us all; but if no part of the 
church be in heaven, or none but Enoch and Elias, it is not 
likely that the church would be called the Jerusalem which 
is in heaven. 

II. They go to dwell in the immediate, full and constant 
sight or view of Christ. 

When we are absent from our dear friends, they are out 
of sight, but when we are with them, we have the opportun- 
ity and satisfaction of seeing them. While the saints are in 
the body and are absent from the Lord, he is in several re- 
spects out of sight—‘‘whom having not seen, ye love: in 
whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing.’ ‘They 
have indeed, in this world, a spiritual sight of Christ, but 
they see “through a glass darkly” and with great interrup- 
tion; but in heaven they see him “‘face to face.’ ‘The pure 
in heart are blessed; for they shall see God.” Their beati- 
fical vision of God is in Christ, who is that brightness or 
effulgence of God’s glory by which his glory shines forth in 
heaven, to the view of saints and angels there, as well as 
here on earth. This is the Sun of Righteousness, which is 
not only the light of this world but is also the sun which en- 
lightens the heavenly Jerusalem, by whose bright beams the 
glory of God shines forth there, to the enlightening and 
making happy of all the glorious inhabitants. ‘The Lamb 
is the light thereof; and so the Glory of God doth lighten 
it.” No one sees God the Father immediately. He is the 
King eternal, immortal, invisible. Christ is the Image of 





170 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


that invisible God by which he is seen by all elect creatures. 
The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, 
he hath declared him and manifested him. No one has ever 
immediately seen the Father but the Son; and no one else 
sees the Father in any other way than by the Son’s revealing 
him. In heaven the spirits of just men made perfect see him 
as he is. They behold his glory. They see the glory of his 
divine nature, consisting in all the glory of the Godhead, the 
beauty of all his perfections; his great majesty and almighty 
power; his infinite wisdom, holiness and grace; and they see 
the beauty of his glorified human nature and the glory which 
the Father hath given him, as God-man and Mediator. For 
this end Christ desired that his saints might “tbe with him, 
that they might behold his glory.’’ When the souls of the 
saints leave their bodies to go to be with Christ, they behold 
the glory of the work of Redemption, “‘which the angels de- 
sire to look into.’’ They have the clearest view of the un- 
fathomable depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God, 
and the brightest displays of the purity and holiness of God 
which appears in that work. They see in a far clearer man- 
ner than the saints do here “what is the breadth and length, 
and depth and height of the grace and love of Christ,” ap- 
pearing in his redemption. As they see the unspeakable 
riches and glory of God’s grace, so they clearly understand 


Christ’s eternal and immeasurable love to them in partic- 


ular. In short, they see everything in Christ which tends to 
inflame and gratify love in the most clear and glorious man- 
ner, without any darkness or delusion, without any impedi- 
ment or interruption. Now the saints, while in the body, 
see somewhat of Christ’s glory and love; as we, in the dawn 
of the morning, see somewhat of the reflected light of the 
sun mingled with darkness: but when separated from the 
body, they see their glorious and loving Redeemer, as we 





THE BLEssED DEAD 171 





see the sun when risen above the horizon, by his direct beams 
in a clear hemisphere and with perfect day. 

III. They are brought into a perfect conformity to, and 
union with Christ. 

Their spiritual conformity is begun while they are in the 
body. Here, ‘“‘beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, 
they are changed into the same image’’; but, when they come 
to see him as he is, in heaven, then they become like him in 
another matter. ‘hat perfect sight will annihilate all re- 
mains of deformity and sinful unlikeness; as all darkness is 
annihilated before the full blaze of the sun’s meridian light. 
It is impossible that the least degree of obscurity should re- 
main before such light; so it is impossible the least degree 
of sin and spiritual deformity should remain in such a view 
of the spiritual beauty and glory of Christ as the saints en- 
joy in heaven. When they see the Sun of Righteousness 
without a cloud, they themselves shine forth as the sun and 
shall be themselves as suns without a spot. Then Christ 
presents his saints to himself, in glorious beauty; “not hav- 
ing spot or wrinkle, or any such thing,” and having holiness 
without a blemish. Then their union with Christ is per- 
fected. ‘This also is begun in this world. The relative 
union is both begun and perfected at once when the soul first 
closes with Christ by faith. The real union consisting in 
the union of heart and affection is begun in this world and 
perfected in the next. The union of the heart of a believer 
to Christ is begun when his heart is drawn to Christ by the 
first discovery of his divine excellence at conversion. Con- 
sequent on this is established a vital union with Christ 
whereby the believer becomes a living branch of the true 
vine, living by a communication of the sap and vital juice 
of the stock and root; a member of Christ’s mystical body 
living by a communication of spiritual and vital influences 





Ly2 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





from the head and by a participation of Christ’s own life. 
But while the saints are in the body, there is much remain- 
ing distance between Christ and them. The vital union is 
very imperfect and so is the communication of spiritual life 
and vital influence. There is much between Christ and be- 
lievers to keep them asunder, much indwelling sin, much 
temptation, a heavy moulded, frail body, and a world of 
carnal objects, to keep off the soul from Christ and hinder 
a perfect coalescence. But when the soul leaves the body, 
all these hindrances are removed, every separating wall is 
broken down, every impediment is taken out of the way and 
all distance ceases; the heart is wholly and perfectly drawn, 
and firmly and for ever bound to Christ by a perfect view 
of his glory. The vital union is then brought to perfection; 
the soul lives perfectly in and upon Christ, being perfectly 
filled with his spirit and animated by his vital influence; liv- 
ing as it were only by Christ’s life, without any reminder 
of spiritual death or carnal life. 

IV. They enjoy a glorious and immediate intercourse 
and conversation with Christ. 

While we are present with our friends, we have oppor- 
tunity for a free and immediate conversation with them, 
which we cannot have when absent. Therefore, by reason 
of the far more free, perfect and immediate intercourse with 
Christ which the saints enjoy when absent from the body, 
they are properly represented as present with him. 

The most intimate intercourse becomes that relation in 
which the saints stand to Jesus Christ; and especially be- 
comes that perfect and glorious reunion into which they 
shall be brought with him in heaven. They are not merely 
his servants, but his friends, his brethren and companions, 
yea, they are the spouse of Christ. They are espoused or 
betrothed to Christ while in the body, but when they go to 





THE BLEssED DEAD 173 


heaven their marriage with him is come and the King brings 
them into his palace. Christ conversed in the most friendly 
manner with his disciples on earth and admitted one of them 
to lean on his bosom, but they are admitted much more fully 
and freely to converse with him in heaven. ‘Though Christ 
be there in a state of glorious exaltation, reigning in the 
majesty and glory of the sovereign Lord and God of heaven 
and earth, of angels and men, yet this will not hinder the 
intimacy and freedom of their intercourse but will- rather 
promote it. He is thus exalted, not only for himself, but 
for them. He is Head over all things for their sakes, that 
they may be exalted and glorified; and, when they go to 
heaven where he 1s, they are exalted and glorified with him 
and shall not be kept at a greater distance. ‘They shall be 
unspeakably more fit for it, and Christ will be in more fit 
circumstances to bestow on them this blessedness. ‘Their 
seeing the great glory of their friend and Redeemer will not 
awe them to a distance and make them afraid of a near ap- 
proach; but on the contrary, will most powerfully draw 
them near and encourage and engage them to holy freedom. 
They will know that he is their own Redeemer and beloved 
friend, the very same who loved them with a dying love and 
redeemed them to God by his blood. “It is 1; be not afraid.” 
‘Fear not, I am he that liveth and was dead.’ The nature 
of this glory of Christ which they shall see will be such as 
will draw and encourage them, for they will not only see 
infinite majesty and greatness, but infinite grace, condescen- 
sion, gentleness and sweetness, equal to his majesty. He 
appears in heaven not only as “the Lion of the tribe of 
Judah” but as ‘‘the Lamb,” and “‘the Lamb in the midst of 
the throne’’; and this Lamb in the midst of the throne shall 
be their shepherd, to ‘“‘feed them and lead them to living 
fountains of water’; so that the sight of Christ’s majesty 





WRAY GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


will be no terror to them, but will only serve the more to 
heighten their pleasure and surprise. When Mary was 
about to embrace Christ, being full of joy at seeing him 
again alive after his crucifixion, Christ forbids her to do it 
for the present, because he was not yet ascended. “Jesus 
saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself and saith unto 
him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto 
her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father. 
But go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my 
Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.”’ 
As if he had said, ‘“This is not the time and place for that 
freedom which your love to me desires. ‘That is appointed 
in heaven after my ascension. I am going thither, and you 
who are my true disciples shall, as my brethren and compan- 
ions, soon be there with me in my glory.” ‘That is the place 
appointed for the most perfect expressions of complacence 
and endearment. Accordingly the souls of departed saints 
in heaven find Christ manifesting those infinite riches of 
love towards them which he has felt from eternity; and they 
are enabled to express their love to him in an infinitely bet- 
ter manner than they could while in the body. Thus they 
shall be eternally encompassed by the infinitely bright and 
mild and sweet beams of divine love, eternally receiving 
that light and forever reflecting it to the fountain. 

VY. They are received to a glorious fellowship with 
Christ in his blessedness. 

The saints in heaven have communion with Christ in 
his glory and blessedness in heaven, in the following re- 
spects. 

1. ‘They partake with him in the ineffable delights which 
he has in heaven in the enjoyment of his Father. 

When Christ ascended to heaven, he was received to a 
peculiar blessedness in the enjoyment of his Father, who in 





THE BLEssED DEAD 175 


his passion hid his face from him; such an enjoyment as be- 
came the relation in which he stood to the Father; and such 
as was a meet reward for the great and difficult service 
which he had performed on earth. Then ‘‘God showed him 
the path of life, and brought him into his presence, where 
is fullness of joy, and to sit on his right hand, where there 
are pleasures for evermore’’ as is said of Christ. “Then the 
Father ‘“‘made him most blessed forever; he made him ex- 
ceeding glad with his countenance. ‘The saints by their 
union with Christ partake of his child-like relation to the 
Father and are heirs with him of his happiness in the en- 
joyment of his Father, as seems to be intimated by the 
Apostle, and by the Psalmist: ‘“They shall be abundantly 
satisfied with the fatness of thy house: thou shalt make them 
drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the 
fountain of life; in thy light shall we see light.” The saints 
shall have pleasure in partaking with Christ in his pleasure 
and shall see light in his light. They shall partake with 
Christ of the same river of pleasure, shall drink of the 
water of life and of the same new wine in his Father’s king- 
dom. ‘That new wine is especially that joy and happiness 
which Christ and his true disciples shall partake of together 
in glory; which is the purchase of Christ’s blood or the re- 
ward of his obedience unto death. Christ at his ascension 
into heaven received everlasting pleasures at his Father’s 
right hand in the enjoyment of his Father’s love, as the re- 
ward of his own obedience unto death. But the same right- 
eousness is reckoned both to the head and the members; and 
both shall have fellowship in the same reward, each accord- 
ing to their distinct capacity. 

That the saints in heaven thus partake with Christ in 
his own enjoyment of the Father manifests the transcendent 








176 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





excellence of their happiness and their being admitted to a 
vastly higher privilege in glory than the angels. 

2. They partake with Christ in the glory of that do- 
minion to which the Father has exalted him. 

The saints, when they ascend to heaven and are made 
to sit together with Christ in heavenly places, are exalted 
to reign with him. They are through him made kings and 
priests, and reign with him and in him over the same king- 
dom. As the Father has appointed unto him a kingdom, 
so he has appointed it to them. The Father has appointed 
the Son to reign over his own kingdom and the Son appoints 
his saints to reign in his. ‘The saints in heaven are with the 
angels, the King’s ministers, by whom he manages the affairs 
of his kingdom and who are continually ascending and de- 
’ scending from heaven to earth and daily employed as min- 
istering spirits to each individual member of the church 
below; beside the continual ascending of the souls of de- 
parted saints from all parts of the militant church. ‘They: 
have as much greater advantage to view the state of Christ’s 
kingdom and the works of the new creation here than they 
had while in this world, as a man who ascends to the top of 
a high mountain has greater advantage to view the face of 
the earth than he had while he was in a deep valley or thick 
forest below, surrounded on every side with those things 
which impeded and limited his sight. Nor do they view 
them as indifferent or unconcerned spectators any more than 
Christ himself is an unconcerned spectator. The happiness 
of the saints in heaven consists very much in beholding the 
glory of God appearing in the work of Redemption, for it 
is by this chiefly that God manifests his glory, the glory of 
his wisdom, holiness, grace and other perfections, to both 
saints and angels, as is apparent by many scriptures. Hence, 
undoubtedly, much of their happiness consists in beholding 





THE BLEssED DEAD a 177 


the progress of this work in its application and success and 
the steps by which Infinite power and wisdom brings it to its 
consummation. ‘They are under unspeakably greater ad- 
vantages to enjoy the progress of this work than we are, 
_as they are under greater advantages to see and understand 
the marvellous steps which Divine wisdom takes in all that 
is done, and the glorious ends he obtains; the opposition 
Satan makes and how he is baffled and over-thrown. ‘They 
can better see the connection of one event with another 
and the beautiful order of all things which come to pass in 
the church in different ages that to us appear like confusion. 
Nor do they only view these things and rejoice in them as a 
glorious and beautiful sight, but as persons interested, as 
Christ is interested, as possessing these things in Christ and 
reigning with him in his kingdom. Christ’s success in his 
work of redemption, in bringing home souls to himself, ap- 
plying his saving benefits by his Spirit and the advancement 
of the kingdom of grace in the world, is the reward espe- 
cially promised to him by his Father in the covenant of re- 
demption, for the hard and difficult service which he per- 
formed while in the form of a servant. But the saints shall 
partake with him in the joy of this reward, for this obe- 
dience which is thus rewarded is reckoned to them as they 
are his members. 

Thus, Abraham enjoys these things, when they come to 
pass, which were of old promised to him, which he saw be- 
forehand and in which he rejoiced. He will enjoy the ful- 
filment of the promise that all the families of the earth 
should be blessed in his seed when it shall be accomplished. 
All the ancient patriarchs who died believing in the prom- 
ises of glorious things to be accomplished in this world, 
“who had not received the promises,” but saw them afar 
off and were persuaded of them and embraced them, do ac- 





178 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


tually enjoy them when fulfilled. David actually saw and 
enjoyed the fulfilment of that promise in its due time which 
was made to him many hundred years before and was all his 
salvation and all his desire. Thus Daniel shall stand in his 
lot at the end of the days pointed out by his own prophecy. 
Thus the saints of old who died in faith, not having received 
the promise, are made perfect and have their faith crowned 
by the better things accomplished in these latter days of the 
gospel, which they see and enjoy in their time. 

3. ‘They have fellowship with Christ in his blessed and 
eternal employment of glorifying the Father. 

When Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper and ate and 
drank with his disciples at his table, giving them therein a 
representation and pledge of their future feasting with him 
and drinking new wine in his heavenly Father’s kingdom, he 
at that time led them in their praises to God in the hymn 
which they sang. So, doubtless, he leads his glorified dis- 
ciples in heaven. David, as the sweet psalmist of Israel, led 
the great congregation of God’s people in their songs of 
praise. In this, as in innumerable other things, he was a 
type of Christ who is often spoken of in Scripture by the 
name of David. Many of the psalms which David penned 
were songs of praise, which he by the spirit of prophecy 
uttered in the name of Christ, as head of the church and 
leading the saints in their praises. Christ in heaven leads 
the glorious assembly in their praises to God as Moses did 
the congregation of Israel at the Red Sea, which is implied 
in its being said that “‘they sing the song of Moses and the 
Lamb.” John tells us that “ he heard a voice come out of 
the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants and 
ye that fear him, both small and great.’ Who can it be that 
utters this voice out of the throne but “the Lamb who is in 
the midst of the throne,’’ calling on the glorious assembly 





THE BLEessep DEeap 179 


of saints to praise his Father and their Father, his God and 
their God? What the consequence of this voice is, we learn 
in the following words: ‘“‘And I heard as it were the voice 
of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and 
as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia; for the 
Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.” 

The subject which we have been considering may be use- 
fully applied in the way of exhortation. Let us all be ex- 
horted hence earnestly to seek after that great privilege 
which has been spoken of, that when “‘we are absent from 
the body, we may be present with the Lord.’’ We cannot 
continue always in these earthly tabernacles. They are very 
frail and will soon decay and fall, and are continually liable 
to be overthrown by innumerable means. Our souls must 
soon leave them and go into the eternal world. O, how in- 
finitely great will be the privilege and happiness of those 
who, at that time, shall go to be with Christ in his glory, in 
the manner that has been represented! ‘The privilege of 
the twelve disciples was great in being so constantly with 
Christ as his family, in his state of humiliation. The priv- 
ilege of those three disciples was great who were with him 
in the mount of his Transfiguration, where was exhibited to 
them a faint semblance of his future glory in heaven, such 
as they might safely behold in the present frail, feeble and 
sinful state. They were greatly delighted with what they 
saw and were desirous of making tabernacles to dwell there 
and return no more down the mount. Great, also, was the 
privilege of Moses when he was with Christ in Mount Sinai 
and besought him to show him his glory, and he saw his 
back-parts as he passed by and heard him proclaim his name. 
But is not that privilege infinitely greater which has now 
been spoken of, the privilege of being with Christ in heaven, 
where he sits on the throne, as the King of angels and the 





180 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





God of the universe, shining forth as the Sun of that world 
of glory—there to dwell in the full, constant and everlast- 
ing view of his beauty and brightness, there most freely and 
intimately to converse with him and fully to enjoy his love, 
as his friends and brethren, there to share with him in the 
infinite pleasure and joy which he has in the enjoyment of 
his Father, there to sit with him on his throne, to reign with 
him in the possession of all things, to partake with him in 
the glory of his victory over his enemies and the advance- 
ment of his kingdom in the world, and to join with him in 
joyful songs of praise to his Father and our Father, to his 
God and our God, for ever and ever? Is not this a priv- 
ilege worth the seeking after? 

Here, as a powerful enforcement of this exhortation, I 
would improve that afflictive dispensation of God’s holy 
Providence which is the occasion of our coming together at 
this time—the death of that eminent servant of Jesus Christ 
whose funeral is this day to be attended; together with what 
was observable in him, living and dying. 

In this dispensation of Providence, God puts us in mind 
of our mortality and forewarns us that the time is approach- 
ing when we must be ‘absent from the body” and “must 
appear, as the Apostle observes in the next verse but one 
to the text, ‘before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every 
one of us may receive the things done in the body, according 
to what we have done, whether it be good or bad.” 

In him, whose death we are now called to consider and 
improve, we have not only an instance of mortality, but, as 
we have all imaginable reason to conclude, an instance of 
one who, being absent from the body, is present with the 
Lord. Of this we shall be convinced, whether we consider 
the nature of his experience at the time whence he dates his 
conversion, or the nature and course of his inward exercises 


ees te Ot - 


a 


Sie ee ie ee ee yO ee ee 








Tue BLEssepD DEAD 181 


from that time forward, or his outward conversation and 
practice in life, or his frame and behaviour during the whole 
of that long space wherein he looked death in the face. 

His convictions of sin, preceding his first consolations in 
Christ, as appears by a written account which he has left of 
his inward exercises and experiences, were exceedingly deep 
and thorough. Huis trouble and sorrow arising from a sense 
of guilt and misery were very great and long continued, but 
yet sound and rational, consisting in no unsteady, violent 
and unaccountable frights and perturbations of mind; but 
arising from the most serious considerations and a clear il- 
lumination of the conscience to discern and consider the true 
state of things. The light let into his mind at conversion, 
and the influences and exercises to which his mind was sub- 
ject at that time appear very agreeable to reason and the 
gospel of Jesus Christ. The change was very great and re- 
markable, yet without any appearance of strong impressions 
on the imagination, of sudden flights of the affections or of 
vehement emotions of the animal nature. It was attended 
with just views of the supreme glory of the divine Being, 
consisting in the infinite dignity and beauty of the perfec- 
tions of his nature and of the transcendent excellency of the 
way of salvation by Christ. This was about eight years 
ago, when he was twenty-one years of age. 

Thus God sanctified and made meet for his use that ves- 
sel which he intended to make eminently a vessel of honour 
in his house and which he had made of large capacity, hav- 
ing endowed him with very uncommon abilities and gifts of 
nature. He was a singular instance of a ready invention, 
natural eloquence, easy flowing expression, sprightly appre- 
hension, quick discernment, and very strong memory, and 
yet of a very penetrating genius, close and clear thought, 
and piercing judgment. He had an exact taste; his under- 





182 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


standing was, if I may so express it, of a quick, strong and 
distinguishing scent. 

His learning was very considerable. He had a great 
taste for learning, and applied himself to his studies in so 
close a manner, when he was at college, that he much in- 
jured his health and was obliged on that account for a while 
to leave college, throw by his studies and return home. He 
was esteemed one who excelled in learning in that society. 

He had extraordinary knowledge of men, as well as of 
things, and an uncommon insight into human nature. He 
excelled most whom I ever knew in the power of communi- 
cating his thoughts and had a peculiar talent at accommo- 
dating himself to the capacities, tempers and circumstances 
of those whom he would instruct or counsel. 

He had extraordinary gifts for the pulpit. I never had 
an opportunity to hear him preach but have often heard him 
pray. I think that his manner of addressing himself to God 
and expressing himself before him in that duty was almost 
inimitable, such as I have very rarely known equalled. He 
expressed himself with such exact propriety and pertinency, 
in such significant, weighty, pungent expressions, with such 
an appearance of sincerity, reverence and solemnity, and so 
great a distance from all affectation, as forgetting the pres- 
ence of men and as being in the immediate presence of a 
great and holy God, as I have scarcely ever known paral- 
leled. His manner of preaching, by what I have often 
heard of it from good judges, was no less excellent, being 
clear and instructive, natural, nervous and moving, and 
very searching and convincing. He nauseated an affected 
noisiness and violent boisterousness in the pulpit, and yet 
much disrelished a flat, cold delivery, when the subject re- 
quired affection and earnestness. 

His experiences of the holy influences of God’s Spirit 





THE BLEssepD DEAD 183 


were not only great at his first conversion, but they were so 
in a continued course from that time forward. ‘This ap- 
pears from a diary, which he kept of his daily inward ex- 
ercises, from the time of his conversion until he was dis- 
abled by the failing of his strength, a few days before his 
death. The change which he looked upon as his conversion 
was not only a great change of the present views, affections 
and frame of his mind, but was evidently the beginning of 
that work of God in his heart which God carried on, in a 
very wonderful manner, from that time to his dying day. 

As his inward appearances appear to have been of the 
right kind and were very remarkable as to their degree, so 
were his outward behaviour and practice agreeable. In his 
whole course he acted as one who had indeed sold all for 
Christ, had entirely devoted himself to God, had made his 
glory his highest end and was fully determined to spend his 
whole time and strength in his service. He was animated in 
religion, in the right way; animated not merely, nor chiefly, 
with his tongue, in professing and talking, but animated in 
the work and business of religion. He was not one of those 
who contrive to shun the cross and get to heaven in the in- 
dulgence of ease and sloth. His life of labour and self- 
denial, the sacrifices which he made and the readiness and 
constancy with which he spent his strength and substance to 
promote the glory of his Redeemer, are probably without 
a parallel in this age in these parts of the world. Much of 
this may be perceived by anyone who reads his printed 
Journal, but much more has been learned by long and in- 
timate acquaintance with him, and by looking into his Diary 
since his death, which he purposely concealed in what he 
published. 

Not less extraordinary were his constant calmness, 
peace, assurance and joy in God, during the long time he 


184 GREAT SERMONS OF THE Worip 


looked death in the face, without the least hope of recoy- 
ery, continuing without interruption to the last; while his 
distemper very sensibly preyed upon his vitals, from day to 
day, and often brought him to that state in which he looked 
upon himself, and was thought by others, to be dying. ‘The 
thoughts of approaching death never seemed in the least to 
damp him, but rather to encourage him and exhilarate his 
mood. ‘The nearer death approached, the more desirous he 
seemed to be to die. He said, not long before his death, 
that “the consideration of the day of death and the day of 
judgment had a long time been peculiarly sweet to him.” 

He seemed to have remarkable exercises of resignation 
to the will of God. He once told me that “he had longed 
for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God and the glori- — 
ous times of.the church, and hoped they were coming; and 
should have been willing to have lived to promote religion 
at that time, if that had been the will of God.”’ ‘‘But,” said 
he, “‘f am willing it should be as it is; I would not have the 
choice to make for myself for ten thousand worlds.” 

He several times spoke of the different kinds of willing- 
ness to die, and mentioned it as an ignoble, mean kind of 
willingness to die, to be willing only to get rid of pain, or to 
go to heaven only to get honour and advancement there. 
His own longings for death seemed to be quite of a different 
kind and for nobler ends. When he was first taken with one 
of the last and most fatal symptoms in a consumption, he 
said, ‘‘O now the glorious time is coming! I have longed to 
serve God perfectly, and God will gratify these desires.” 
At one time and another, in the latter part of his illness, he 
uttered these expressions, “‘My heaven is to please God, to 
glorify him, to give all to him, and to be wholly devoted to 
his glory. ‘That is the heaven I long for; that is my re- 
ligion; that is my happiness; and always was, ever since I 


Tue BLEsseD DEAD 185 


supposed I had any true religion. All those who are of that 
religion, shall meet me in heaven.’’—“‘I do not go to heaven 
to be advanced, but to give honour to God. It is no matter 
where I shall be stationed in heaven, whether I have a high 
or low seat there, but I go to love and please and glorify 
God. If I had a thousand souls, if they were worth any- 
thing, | would give them all to God. But I have nothing 
to give, when all is done.”’ 

After he came to be in so low a state that he ceased to 
have the least expectation of recovery, his mind was pecul- 
iarly carried forth with earnest concern for the prosperity 
of the church of God on earth. ‘This seemed very mani- 
festly to arise from a pure disinterested love to Christ and 
a desire of his glory. The prosperity of Zion was a theme 


on which he dwelt much and of which he spake much, and 


more and more, the nearer death approached. He told me 
when near his end that “he never, in all his life, had his 
mind so led forth in desires and earnest prayers for the 
flourishing of Christ’s kingdom on the earth, as since he 
was brought so exceedingly low at Boston.” He seemed 
much to wonder that there appeared no more of a disposi- 
tion in ministers and people to pray for the flourishing of 
religion through the world. 

But a little while before his death, he said to me, as I 
came into the room, “‘My thoughts have been employed on 
the old dear theme, the prosperity of God’s church on earth. 
As I waked out of sleep, I was led to cry for the pouring out 
of God’s Spirit and the advancement of Christ’s kingdom, 
for which the dear Redeemer did and suffered so much. It 
is that, especially, which makes me long for it.” 

But a few days before his death, he desired us to sing a 
psalm which related to the prosperity of Zion, which he sig- 
nified engaged his thoughts and desires above all things. At 





186 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


his desire we sung part of the One Hundred and Second 
Psalm. When we had done, though he was then so low that 
he could scarcely speak, he so exerted himself that he made 
a prayer, very audibly, in which, beside praying for those 
present and for his own congregation, he earnestly prayed 
for the reviving and flourishing of religion in the world. 

His own congregation especially lay much on his heart. 
He often spoke of them and commonly when he did so it 
was with peculiar tenderness, so that his speech was inter- 
rupted and drowned with weeping. 

Thus I have endeavoured to represent something of the 
character and behaviour of that excellent servant of Christ 
whose funeral is now to be attended. ‘Though I have done 
it very imperfectly, yet | have endeavoured to do it faith- 
fully and as in the presence and fear of God, without flat- 
tery, which surely is to be abhorred in ministers of the Gos- 
pel, when speaking ‘‘as messengers of the Lord of hosts.” 

Such reason have we to be satisfied that the person of 
whom I have been speaking, now he is ‘‘absent from the 
body,”’ is “present with the Lord,” not only so, but also with 
him, now wears a crown of glory, of distinguished bright- 
ness. | 

How much is there in the consideration of such an ex- 
ample and so blessed an end to excite us, who are yet alive, 
with the greatest diligence and earnestness, to improve the 
time of life, that we also may go to be with Christ when we 
forsake the body! ‘The time is coming, and will soon come, 
we know not how soon, when we must eternally take leave 
of all things here below, to enter on a fixed, unalterable 
state in the eternal world. O, how well it is worth the 
while to labour and suffer, and deny ourselves, to lay up in 
store a good foundation of support and supply, against that 
time! How much is such a peace as we have heard of 


wt 





THE BLEssep DEAD 187 


worth at such a time! How dismal would it be to be in 
such circumstances, under the outward distresses of a con- 
suming, dissolving frame, and looking death in the face 
from day to day, with hearts uncleansed and sin unpar- 
doned, under a dreadful load of guilt and divine wrath, hav- 
ing much sorrow and wrath in our sickness, and nothing to 
comfort and support our minds, nothing before us but a 
speedy appearance before the judgment seat of an almighty, 
infinitely holy and angry God, and an endless eternity in 
suffering his wrath without pity or mercy! ‘The person of 
whom we have been speaking had a great sense of this. He 
said, not long before his death, ‘It is sweet to me to think 
of eternity. “The endlessness of it makes it sweet. But O, 
what shall I say to the eternity of the wicked! I cannot 
mention it, nor think of it! The thought is too dreadful!” 
At another time, speaking of an heart devoted to God and 
his glory, he said, “O, of what importance is it to have such 
a frame of mind, such an heart as this, when we come to 
die! It is this now that gives me peace.” 

How much is there, in particular, in the things which 
have been observed of this eminent minister of Christ to 
excite us who are called to the same great work of the Gos- 
pel-Ministry, to earnest care and endeavours, that we may 
be in like manner faithful in our work, that we may be filled 
with the same spirit, animated with the same pure and fer- 
vent flame of love to God, and the same earnest concern 
to advance the kingdom and glory of our Lord and Master, 
and the prosperity of Zion! How lovely did these prin- 
ciples render him in his life, and how blessed in his end! 

O, that the things which were seen and heard in this ex- 
traordinary person,—his holiness, heavenliness, labour and 
self-denial in life; his so remarkably devoting himself and 
his all, in heart and practice, to the glory of God; and the 





188 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


wonderful frame of mind manifested in so steadfast a man- 
ner under the expectation of death and under the pains and 
agonies which brought it on; may excite in us all, both min- 
isters and people, a due sense of the greatness of the work 
which we have to do in the world, of the excellency and 
amiableness of thorough religion in experience and practice, 
of the blessedness of the end of those whose death finishes 
such a life, and of the infinite value of their eternal reward, 
when “absent from the body and present with the Lord”; 
and effectually stir us up to constant and effectual en- 
deavours that, in the way of such an holy life, we may at 
last come to so blessed an end! Amen. 


The Great Assize 





JOHN WESLEY 


at Epworth, England, on June 28, 1703, and died in 
London on March 2, 1791. At Oxford he was one of a 
band of young men conspicuous for the earnestness of their 
religious life, and whom the undergraduates derisively 
called “methodists.”” John Wesley was introduced to field 
preaching by his great contemporary, George Whitefield. 
‘The sermons of Wesley, more than in the case of any 
celebrated preacher, raise the question as to how it was pos- 
sible for them to hold the attention of the out-of-doors 
throngs to which Wesley was accustomed to preach. In 
manner Wesley was as calm as he was in matter. Yet 
his preaching was greatly used of God for the revival of 
Christianity in Great Britain. Most of his sermons read 
like quiet, fatherly, prayer meeting addresses. ‘This un- 
adorned simplicity was both natural and cultivated, for he 
gives us his plan in preparing sermons as follows: “My 
design is, in some sense, to forget all that I have ever read 
in my life. I mean to speak in the general as if I had never 
read one author, ancient or modern (always excepting the 
inspired). I am persuaded that, on the one hand, this 
may be a means of enabling me more clearly to express the 
sentiments of my heart, while I simply follow the chain of 
my own thoughts, without entangling myself with those of 
other men; and that, on the other, I shall come with fewer 
weights on my mind, with less of prejudice and preposses- 
sion, either to search for myself, or to deliver to others, the 
naked truths of the Gospel.” 

The sermon which follows, ““The Great Assize,” shows 
Wesley in a much more animated mood than in most of his 
pulpit deliverances. “The conclusion to the sermon is a 
good example of the lost art of pleading with the sinner. 


ee WESLEY, the founder. of Methodism, was born 


189 





y 





The Great Assize 


“We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of 
Christ”? (Romans 14:10). 


OW many circumstances concur to raise the awful- 
ness of the present solemnity! ‘The general con- 
course of people of every age, sex, rank, and 

condition of life, willingly or unwillingly gathered together, 
not only from the neighboring, but from distant parts; 
criminals, speedily to be brought forth, and having no way 
to escape; officers, waiting in their various posts, to execute 
the orders which shall be given; and the representative of 
our gracious sovereign, whom we so highly reverence and 
honor. ‘The occasion, likewise, of this assembly, adds not 
a little to the solemnity of it: to hear and determine causes 
of every kind, some of which are of the most important na- 
ture; on which depends no less than life or death; death 
that uncovers the face of eternity! It was, doubtless, in 
order to increase the serious sense of these things, and not 
in the minds of the vulgar only, that the wisdom of our 
forefathers did not disdain to appoint even several minute 
circumstances of this solemnity. For these also, by means 
of the eye or ear, may more deeply affect the heart: and 
when viewed in this light, trumpets, staves, apparel, are no 
longer trifling or significant, but subservient, in their kind 
and degree, to the most valuable ends of society. 

But, awful as this solemnity is, one far more awful is 
at hand. For yet a little while, and ‘“‘we shall all stand be- 
fore the judgment seat of Christ.’’ ‘For, as I live, saith 
the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue 


191 





192 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





shall confess to-God.’’ And in that day ‘“‘every one of us 
shall give account of himself to God.”’ 

Had all men a deep sense of this, how effectually would 
it secure the interests of society! For what more forcible 
motive can be conceived to the practice of genuine morality, 
to a steady pursuit of solid virtue, and a uniform walking 
in justice, mercy and truth? What could strengthen our 
hands in all that is good, and deter us from all that is evil, 
like a strong conviction of this, ‘“The judge standeth at the 
door’’; and we are shortly to stand before him? 

It may not, therefore, be improper, or unsuitable to the 
design of the present assembly, to consider, 

I. The chief circumstances which will precede our stand- 
ing before the judgment-seat of Christ. 

Il. [he judgment itself; and 

III. A few of the circumstances which will follow it. 

1. Let us, in the first place, consider the chief circum- 
stances which will precede our standing before the judg- 
ment-seat of Christ. 

And, first, ‘God will show signs in the earth beneath,” 
particularly He will “‘arise to shake terribly the earth.” 
‘The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall 
be removed like a cottage.’ ‘“There shall be earthquakes” 
(not in divers only, but) “in all places’; not in one only, 
nor in a few, but in every part of the habitable world, even 
‘such as were not since men were upon the earth, so mighty 
earthquakes and so great.’ In one of these “‘every island 
shall flee away, and the mountains will not be found.” 

Meantime all the waters of the terraqueous globe will — 
feel the violence of those concussions; ‘‘the sea and waves 
roaring,’ with such an agitation as had never been known 
before, since the hour that “the fountains of the great deep 
were broken up,” to destroy the earth, which then ‘stood 





THE GREAT ASSIZE 193 


out of the water and in the water.” The air will be all 
storm and tempest, full of dark vapors and pillars of smoke, 
resounding with thunder from pole to pole, and torn with 
ten thousand lightnings. But the commotion will not stop 
in the region of air; ‘‘the powers of heaven also shall be 
shaken. ‘There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, 
and in the stars’’; those fixed as well as those that move 
around them. ‘‘The sun shall be turned into darkness, and 
the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of 
the Lord come.” ‘The stars shall withdraw their shining,” 
yea, and “‘fall from heaven,” being thrown out of their 
orbits. And then shall be heard the universal shout, from 
all the companies of heaven, followed by the “‘voice of the 
archangel,” proclaiming the approach of the Son of God 
and man, ‘‘and the trumpet of God’’ sounding an alarm to 
all that sleep in the dust of the earth. In consequence of 
this, all the graves shall open, and the bodies of men arise. 
The sea, also, shall give up the dead which are therein, and 
eyeryone shall rise with ‘“‘his own body”; his own in sub- 
stance, although so changed in its properties as we cannot 
now conceive. “For this corruptible will (then) put on in- 
corruption, and this mortal put on immortality.” Yea, 
“death and hades,” the invisible world, shall ‘‘deliver up the 
dead that are in them,” so that all who ever lived and died, 
since God created man, shall be raised incorruptible and im- 
mortal. 

2. At the same time, ‘‘the Son of man shall send forth 
His angels” over all the earth; ‘‘and they shall gather His 
elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the 
other.’”’ And the Lord Himself shall come with clouds, in 
His own glory, and the glory of His Father, with ten thou- 
sand of His saints, even myriads of angels, and shall sit 


upon the throne of His glory. “And before Him shall be 


| % 





194 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





gathered all nations, and He shall separate them one from 
another, and shall set the sheep (the good) on His right 
hand, and the goats (the wicked) upon the left.’ Con- 
cerning this general assembly it is that the beloved disciple 
speaks thus: “‘I saw the dead (all that had been dead), 
small and great, stand before God. And the books were 
opened (a figurative expression, plainly referring to the 
manner of proceeding among men), and the dead were 
judged out of those things which were written in the books, 
according to their works.”’ 

II. These are the chief circumstances which are re- 
corded in the oracles of God as preceding the general judg- 
ment. We are, secondly, to consider the judgment itself, 
so far as it hath pleased God to reveal it. 

1. The Person by whom God will judge the world is 
His only-begotten Son, whose ‘‘goings forth are from ever- 
lasting’; “‘who is God over all, blessed forever.’’ Unto 
Him, being “the out-beaming of His Father’s glory, the 
express image of His Person,” the Father “hath committed 
all judgment, because He is the Son of man’’; because, 
though He was “in the form of God, and thought it not 
robbery to be equal with God, yet He emptied Himself, 
taking upon Him the form of a servant, being made in the 
likeness of man’’; yea, because, ‘‘being found in fashion as 
a man, He humbled Himself (yet further), becoming obe- 
dient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore 
God hath highly exalted Him,” even in His human nature, 
and “ordained Him,” as man, to try the children of men, 
‘to be the Judge both of the quick and dead’’; both of those 
who shall be found alive at His coming and of those who 
were before gathered to their fathers. 

2. The time, termed by the prophet ‘“‘the great and the 
terrible day,” is usually in Scripture styled ‘“‘the day of the 


~ 





THE GREAT ASSIZE 195 


Lord.” ‘The space from the creation of man upon the earth 
to the end of all things, is ‘‘the day of the sons of men”; 
the time that is now passing is properly ‘‘our day’; when 
this is ended, “‘the day of the Lord”’ will begin. But who 
can say how long it will continue? “With the Lord one 
day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one > 
day.’ And from this very expression some of the ancient 
Fathers drew that inference that what is commonly called 
the day of judgment would be a thousand years; and it 
seems they did not go beyond the truth; very probably they 
did not come up to it. For, if we consider the number of 
persons who are to be judged, and of actions which are to 
be inquired into, it does not appear that a thousand years 
will suffice for the transactions of that day; so that it may 
not, improbably, comprise several thousand years. But 
God shall reveal this also in its season. 

3. With regard to the place where mankind will be 
judged, we have no explicit account in Scripture. An emi- 
nent writer (but not alone: many have been of the same 
opinion) supposes it will be on earth, where the works were 
done, according to which they shall be judged; and that God 
will, in order thereto, employ the angels of His strength 


‘To smooth and lengthen out the boundless space, 
And spread an area for all human race.” 


But perhaps it is more agreeable to our Lord’s own account 
of His coming in the clouds to suppose it will be on earth, 
if not “‘twice a planetary height.” And this supposition is 
not a little favored by what St. Paul writes to the Thes- 
salonians: ‘“The dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we 
who remain alive shall be caught up together with them, 


in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.’ So that it 





196 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


seems most probable the great white throne will be high 
exalted above the earth. 

4. The persons to be judged who can count, any more 
than the drops of rain, or the sands of the sea? “I behold,” 
saith St. John, “a great multitude, which no man can num- 
ber, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.” 
How immense, then, must be the total multitude of all na- 
tions, and kindreds, and people, and tongues; of all that 
have sprung from the loins of Adam, since the world began 
till time shall be no more! If we admit the common sup- 
position, which seems no ways absurd, that the earth bears 
at any one time no less than four hundred millions of liv- 
ing souls, men, women, and children, what a congregation 
must all these generations make who have succeeded each 
other for seven thousand years! 


“Great Xerxes’ world in arms, proud Cannae’s host, 
They all are here; and here they all are lost, 
Their numbers swell to be discerned in vain, 
Lost as a drop in the unbounded main.” 


Every man, every woman, every infant of days that ever 


breathed the vital air, will then hear the voice of the Son 
of God, and start into life, and appear before Him. And 
this seems to be the natural import of that expression, “‘the 
dead, small and great’’; all universally, all without excep- 
tion, all of every age, sex, or degree, all that ever lived and 
died, or underwent such a change as will be equivalent with 
death. For long before that day the phantom of greatness 
disappears and sinks into nothing. Even in the moment 
of death that vanishes away. Who is rich or great in the 
grave? 

5. And every man shall there “‘give an account of his 





THE GREAT ASSIZE | 197 


own works”; yea, a full and true account of all that he ever 
did while in the body, whether it was good or evil. 

Nor will all the actions alone of every child of man be 
then brought to open view, but all their words; seeing 
‘every idle word which men shall speak, they shall give ac- 
count thereof in the day of judgment’; so that “by thy 
words” as well as works, “‘thou shalt be justified; and by 
thy words thou shalt be condemned.’ Will not God then 
bring to light every circumstance also that accompanied 
every word or action, and if not altered the nature, yet les- 
sened or increased the goodness or badness of them? And 
how easy is this to Him who is “‘about our bed, and about 
our path, and spieth out all our ways?” We know “the 
darkness is no darkness to Him, but the night shineth as the 
day.” 

6. Yea, He will bring to light, not the hidden works of | 
darkness only, but the very thoughts and intents of the 
hearts. And what marvel? For He “‘searcheth the reins 
and understandeth all our thoughts.” “All things are 
naked and open to the eye of Him with whom we have to 
do.” ‘Hell and destruction are before Him, without a cov- 
ering. How much more the hearts of the children of men?” 

7. And in that day shall be discovered every inward 
working of every human soul; every appetite, passion, in- 
clination, affection, with the various combinations of them, 
with every temper and disposition that constitute the whole 
complex character of each individual. So shall it be clearly 
and infallibly seen who was righteous and who was unright- 
ous; and in what degree every action, or person, or char- 
acter, was either good or evil. 

8. “Then the King will say to them upon His right 
hand, Come ye, blessed of My Father. For I was hungry, 

and ye gave Me meat; thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was 








198 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed Me.” 
In like manner, all the good they did upon earth will be re- 
cited before men and angels; whatsoever they had done 
either in word or deed, in the name or for the sake of the 
Lord Jesus. All their good desires, intentions, thoughts, all 
their holy dispositions, will also be then remembered; and it 
will appear that though they were unknown or forgotten 
among men, yet God noted them in His book. All their suf- 
ferings, likewise, for the name of Jesus, and for the testi- 
mony of a good conscience, will be displayed, unto their 
praise from the righteous Judge, their honor before saints 
and angels, and the increase of that “far more exceeding 
and eternal weight of glory.” 

9. But will their evil deeds too (since, if we take in his 
whole life, there is not a man on earth that liveth and sin- 
neth not), will these be remembered in that day, and men- 
tioned in the great congregation? Many believe they will, 
and ask “Would not this imply that their sufferings were not 
at an end, even when life ended—-seeing they would still 
have sorrow and shame, and confusion of face to endure ?”’ 
They ask further, ‘“How can this be reconciled with God’s 
declaration by the prophet, ‘If the wicked will turn from 
all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all My statutes, 
and do that which is lawful and right, all his trangressions 
that he hath committed, they shall not be once mentioned 
unto him,’ how is it consistent with the promise which God 
has made to all who accept of the Gospel covenant, ‘I will 
forgive their iniquities, and remember their sins no more,’ 
or as the Apostle expresses it, ‘I will be merciful to their 
unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remem- 
ber no more?’ ” | 

10. It may be answered, it is apparently and absolutely 
necessary for the full display of the glory of God, for the 





THE GREAT ASSIZE 199 


clear and perfect manifestation of His wisdom, justice, 
power and mercy, toward the heirs of salvation, that all the 
circumstances of this life should be placed in open view, to- 
gether with all their tempers, and the desires, thoughts, and 
intents of their hearts, otherwise how would it appear out 
of what a depth of sin and misery the grace of God had 
delivered them. And indeed if the whole lives of all the 
children of men were not manifestly discovered, the whole 
amazing contexture of Divine Providence could not be man- 
ifested, nor should we yet be able, in a thousand instances 
‘to justify the ways of God to man,” unless our Lord’s 
words were fulfilled in their utmost sense, without any re- 
striction or limitation, ‘“[here is nothing covered that shall 
not be revealed, or hid that shall not be known,”’ abundance 
of God’s dispensations under the sun would still appear 
without their reasons. And then only when God hath 
brought to light all the hidden things of darkness, whoso- 
ever were the actors therein, will it be seen that wise and 
good were all His ways, that He saw through the thick 
cloud, and governed all things by the wise counsels of His 
own will, that nothing was left to chance, or the caprice of 
men, but God disposed all strongly and sweetly, and 
wrought all into one connected chain of justice, mercy and 
truth. 

11. And in the discovery of the Divine perfections, the 
righteous will rejoice with joy unspeakable, far from feeling 
any painful sorrow or shame; for any of those past trans- 
gressions which were long since blotted out as a cloud, and 
washed away by the blood of the Lamb. It will be abun- 
dantly sufficient for them that all the transgressions which 
they had committed shall not be once mentioned unto them 
to their disadvantage; that their sins, and transgressions, 
and iniquities shall be remembered no more to their con- 





200 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


demnation. This is the plain meaning of the promise, and 
this all the children of God shall find true, to their ever- 
lasting comfort. 

12. After the righteous are judged, the King will turn 
to them upon His left hand, and they shall also be judged, 
every man according to his works. But not only their out- 
ward works will be brought into the account, but all the evil 
words which they have ever spoken, yea, all the evil desires, 
affections, tempers which have or have had a place in their 
souls, and all the evil thoughts or designs which were ever 
cherished in their hearts. ‘The joyful sentence of acquittal 
will then be pronounced upon those upon the right hand, the 
dreadful sentence of condemnation upon those on the left, 
both of which must remain fixed and unmovable as the 
throne of God. 

III. 1. We may, in the third place, consider a few of 
the circumstances which will follow the general judgment. 
And the first is the execution of the sentence pronounced on 
the evil and the good. ‘These shall go away into eternal 
punishment, and the righteous into life eternal.” It should 
be observed it is the very same word which is used, both in 
the former and in the latter clause: it follows that either 
the punishment lasts forever, or the reward too will come 
to an end. No, never, unless God could come to an end, or 
His mercy and truth could fail. ‘Then shall the righteous 
shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father,” 
‘‘and shall drink of those rivers of pleasure which are at 
God’s right hand for evermore.” But here all description 
falls short, all human language fails! Only one who is 
caught up into the third heaven can have a just conception 
of it. But even such a one cannot express what he hath 
seen, these things it is not possible for man to utter. 

The wicked, meantime, shall be turned into hell, even 


| an 





THE GREAT ASSIZE 201 


all the people that forget God. They will be ‘“‘punished 
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, 
and from the glory of His power.” They will be ‘“‘cast into 
the lake of fire, burning with brimstone,” originally “‘pre- 
pared for the devil and his angels,’’ where they will gnaw 
their tongues for anguish and pain, they will curse God and 
look upward. ‘There the dogs of hell, pride, malice, re- 
venge, rage, horror, despair, continually devour them. 
There “they have no rest, day or night, but the smoke of 
their torment ascendeth forever and ever.” For “their 
worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”’ 

2. Then the heavens will be shriveled up as a parch- 
ment scroll, and pass away with a great noise; they will 
“flee from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and 
there will be found no place for them.” The very manner 
of their passing away is disclosed to us by the apostle Peter: 
“Tn the day of God, the heavens being on fire, shall be dis- 
solved.” The whole beautiful fabric will be overthrown by 
that raging element, the connection of all its parts de- 
stroyed, and every atom torn asunder from the others. By 
the same, “‘the earth also, and the works that are therein 
shall be burned up.”’ ‘The enormous works of nature, the 
everlasting hills, mountains that have defied the rage of 
time, and stood unmoved so many thousand years, will sink 
down in fiery ruin. How much less will the works of art, 
though of the most durable kind, the utmost effort of human 
industry, tombs, pillars, triumphal arches, castles, pyramids, 
be able to withstand the flaming conqueror! All, all will 
die, perish, vanish away, like a dream when one awaketh! 

3. It has indeed been imagined by some great and good 
men that as it requires that same Almighty Power to an- 
nihilate things as to create; to speak into nothing or out of 
nothing; so no part.of no atom in the universe will be to- 





202 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


tally or finally destroyed. Rather, they suppose that, as the 
last operation of fire, which we have yet been able to ob- 
serve, is to reduce into glass what, by a smaller force, it had 
reduced to ashes; so, in the day God hath ordained, the 
whole earth, if not the material heavens also, will undergo 
this change, after which the fire can have no further power 
over them. And they believe this is intimated by that ex- 
pression in the Revelation made to St. John, “Before the 
throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal.” We can 
not now either affirm or deny this; but we shall know here- 
after. 

4. If it be inquired by the scoffers, the minute philo- 
sophers, how can these things be? Whence should come 
such an immense quantity of fire as would consume the 
heavens and the whole terraqueous globe? We would beg 
leave first to remind them that this difficulty is not peculiar 
to the Christian system. ‘The same opinion almost univer- 
sally obtained among the unbigoted heathens. But, sec- 
ondly, it is easy to answer, even from our slight and super- 
ficial acquaintance with natural things, that there are abun- 
dant magazines of fire ready prepared, and treasured up 
against the day of the Lord. How soon may a comet, com- 
missioned by Him, travel down from the most distant parts 
of the universe! And were it to fix upon the earth, in its 
return from the sun, when it is some thousand times hotter 
than a red-hot cannon-ball; who does not see what must be 
the immediate consequence? But, not to ascend so high 
as the ethereal heavens, might not the same lightnings which 
“give shine to the world,” if commanded by the Lord of 
nature, give ruin and utter destruction? Or to go no fur- 
ther than the globe itself; who knows what huge reservoirs 





THE GREAT ASSIZE 203 


of liquid fire are from age to age contained in the bowels of 
the earth? Aetna, Hecla, Vesuvius, and all the other vol- 
canoes that belch out flames and coals of fire, what are they 
but so many proofs and mouths of those fiery furnaces; and 
at the same time so many evidences that God hath in readi- 
ness wherewith to fulfil His word? Yea, were we to ob- 
serve no more than the surface of the earth, and the things 
that surround us on every side, it 1s most certain (as a thou- 
sand experiments prove, beyond all possibility of denial) 
that we, ourselves, our whole bodies, are full of fire, as well 
as everything around us. Is it not easy to make this ethe- 
real fire visible even to the naked eye, and to produce 
thereby the very same effects on combustible matter which 
are produced by culinary fire? Needs there then any more 
than for God to unloose that secret chain, whereby this ir- 
resistible agent is now bound down, and lies quiescent in 
every particle of matter? And how soon would it tear the 
universal frame in pieces, and involve all in one common 
ruin | 

5. There is one circumstance more which will follow the 
judgment that deserves our serious consideration: “We 
look,” says the apostle, ‘‘according to His promise, for new 
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”’ 
The promise stands in the prophecy of Isaiah: “Behold: I 
create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall 
not be remembered,” so great shall the glory of the latter 
be! These St. John did behold in the visions of God. “I 
saw,” saith he, ‘“‘a new heaven and a new earth, for the first 
heaven and the first earth were passed away. And I heard 
a great voice from (the third) heaven, saying: Behold the 
tabernacle of God is with men; and He will dwell with 





204 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


them, and they shall be His people; and God Himself shall 
be with them, and be their God!’’ Of necessity therefore 
they will all be happy. ‘“‘God shall wipe away all tears from 
their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, 
nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain.” ‘There 
shall be no more curse, but they shall see His face,”’ shall 
have the nearest access to, and thence the highest resem- 
blance of Him. ‘This is the strongest expression in the lan- 
guage of Scripture to denote the most perfect happiness. 
‘‘And His name shall be on their foreheads’’; they shall be 
openly acknowledged as God’s own property, and His glori- 
ous nature shall most visibly shine forth in them. “And 
there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, 
neither the light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them 
light, and they shall reign forever and ever.” 

Suffer me to add a few words to all of you who are at 
this present before the Lord. Should not you bear it in your 
minds all the day long, that a more awful day is coming? 
A large assembly this! But what is it to that which every 
eye will then behold, this general assembly of all the chil- 
dren of men that ever lived on the face of the whole earth! 
A few will stand at the judgment-seat this day, to be judged 
touching what shall be laid to their charge; and they are 
now reserved in prison, perhaps in chains, till they are 
brought forth to be tried and sentenced. But we shall all, 
J that speak, and you that hear, “‘stand at the judgment-seat 
of Christ.’’ And we are now reserved on this earth, which 
is not our home, in this prison of flesh and blood, perhaps 
many of us in chains of darkness too, till we are ordered 
to be brought forth. Here a man is questioned concerning 
one or two acts which he is supposed to have committed: 








THE GREAT ASSIZE 205 


there we are to give an account of all our works, from the 
cradle to the grave; of all our words, of all our desires and 
tempers, all the thoughts and intents of our hearts; of all 
the uses we have made of our various talents, whether of 
mind, body, or fortune, till God said, ‘‘Give an account of 
their stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward.” 
In this count, it is possible some who are guilty may escape 
for want of evidence; but there is no want of evidence in 
that court. All men with whom you had the most secret in- 
tercourse, who were privy to all your designs and actions, 
are ready before your face. So are all the spirits of dark- 
ness, who inspired evil designs, and assisted in the execution 
of them. So are all the angels of God, those eyes of the 
Lord, that run to and fro over all the earth, who watched 
over your soul, and labored for your good, so far as you 
would permit. So is your own conscience a thousand wit- 
nesses in one, now no more capable of being either blinded 
or silenced, but constrained to know and to speak the naked 
truth, touching all your thoughts, and words, and actions. 
And is conscience as a thousand witnesses ?—yea, but God 
is as a thousand witnesses. Oh, who can stand before the 
face of the great God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ? 
See! see! He cometh! He maketh the clouds His char- 
iot! He rideth upon the wings of the wind! A devouring 
fire goeth before Him, and after Him a flame burneth! 
See! He sitteth upon His throne, clothed with light as 
with a garment, arrayed with majesty and honor! Behold 
His eyes are as a flame of fire, His voice as the sound of 
many waters! How will ye escape? Will ye call to the 
mountains to fall on you, the rocks to cover you? Alas, the 
mountains themselves, the rocks, the earth, the heavens, are 





206 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


just ready to flee away! Can ye prevent the sentence? 
Wherewith? With all the substance of thy house, with 
thousands of gold and silver? Blind wretch! ‘Thou camest 
naked from thy mother’s womb, and more naked into etern- 
ity. Hear the Lord, the Judge! ‘Come, ye blessed of my 
Father! inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
foundation of the world.” Joyful sound! How widely dif- 
ferent from that voice which echoes through the expanse 
of heaven, “Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, pre- 
pared for the devil and his angels!’? And who 1s he that 
can prevent or retard the full execution of either sentence? 
Vain hope! Lo, hell is moved from beneath to receive those 
who are ripe for destruction! And the everlasting doors 
lift up their heads, that the heirs of Glory may come in! 
“What manner of persons then ought we to be, in all 
conversation and godliness?’ We know it cannot be long 
before the Lord will descend with the voice of the arch- 
angel, and the trumpet of God; when everyone of us shall 
appear before Him, and give an account of his own works. 
‘‘Wherefore, behold; seeing ye look for these things,” see- 
ing ye know He will come, and will not tarry, ‘‘be diligent, 
that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot and 
blemish.’ Why should ye not? Why should one of you be 
found on the left hand at His appearing? He willeth not 
that any should perish, but that all should come to repent-., 
ance; by repentance, to faith in a bleeding Lord; by faith, to 
spotless love; to the full image of God renewed in the heart, 
and producing all holiness of conversation. Can you doubt 
of this, when you remember the Judge of all is likewise the 
Saviour of all? Hath He not bought you with His own 
blood, that ye might not perish, but have everlasting life? 


THE GREAT ASSIZE 207 


Oh make proof of His mercy, rather than His justice; of 
His love, rather than the thunder of His power! He is not 
far from everyone of us; and I ‘2 is now come, not to con- 
demn, but to save the world. He standeth in the midst! 
Sinner, doth He not now, even now, knock at the door of 
thy heart? Oh that thou mayest know, at least in this thy 
day, the things that belong unto thy peace! Oh that ye may 
now give yourselves to Him who gave Himself for you, in 
humble faith, in holy, active, patient love! So shall ye re- 
joice with exceeding joy in His day, when He cometh in the 
clouds of heaven! 


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GEORGE WHITEFIELD 


EORGE WHITEFIELD, prince of the field 
preachers, was born at Gloucester, England, in 1714 

and died at Newburyport, Massachusetts, 1770. As a boy 
at school he very early evinced dramatic and elocutionary 
powers and, when doing the work of a common drawer in 
his mother’s tavern at Gloucester, composed several ser- 
mons. Because of his manifest gifts and religious inclination 
he was sent up to Oxford at the age of eighteen. There he 
fell in with the Wesleys and joined the “Holy Club.” 
Although Whitefield had prayed a thousand times that the 
pulpit might not be his destiny, he was ordained by the 


. Bishop of Gloucester in 1736. Of his first sermon he says, 


“Some few mocked, but most for the present seemed 
struck.” 

At the urgent call of the Wesleys, Whitefield went out 
to Georgia in 1738. There he founded the Orphan 
Home for the support of which he travelled through the 
colonies and up and down in Great Britain. Probably no 
preacher since the days of St. Paul was as great a traveler 
as Whitefield, for he made thirteen trips across the Atlan- 
tic, in a day when the voyage was often of two or three 
months’ duration. On the return from his second trip to 
America he found that the Wesleys had gone over to 
Arminianism and withdrew from their fellowship because 
of his rigid Calvinism. When the news reached London 
of the death of Whitefield in America, a follower of 
Whitefield went up to John Wesley after one of his ser- 
mons and asked him if he expected to see Whitefield in 
heaven. Wesley said he did not. “Ah,” said the woman, 
“I thought you would say that!” ‘But wait, madam,” 
added Wesley, “when I get to heaven, George Whitefield 
will be so near the throne that a poor sinner like me will 
never get a glimpse of him.” 

During his itinerating trips in America, the Bermudas 


209 





210 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


and Great Britain, Whitefield was constantly preaching. 
His “‘short allowance” was once every week-day and thrice 
on Sunday. Whitefield first discovered the deep emotions 
he could stir in the hearts of his hearers when he was 
preaching to the thousands of miners in the fields near 
Bristol and saw the white channels in their black faces 
made by the tears coursing down their cheeks. Wherever 
he preached, Whitefield left an unforgettable impression 
behind him. Not only the masses of the common people 
who heard him gladly, but philosophers, like Hume and 
Franklin, and actors, like Foote and Garrick, pay tribute to 
his wonderful power as a preacher. Preaching once in a 
drawing-room to the aristocracy of London, he so graph- 
ically described a blind man on the verge of a precipice that 
the worldly Chesterfield cried out, “For heaven’s sake, 
Whitefield, save him!’”’ David Garrick envied him the 
ability to pronounce the word “Mesopotamia” in a way 
that swept the deepest chords of emotion. He must have 
possessed a marvellous voice, for Franklin, by walking 
around the place where he was preaching, estimated that 
he could have been heard easily by thirty thousand per- 
sons. At the famous Moorfields fairs the shows were 
deserted by the people as they thronged to hear the great 
preacher. 

Perhaps the best known tribute to the eloquence of 
Whitefield is the story of how Franklin went once to 
hear him in Philadelphia, determined that he would 
give nothing for his collection and thus prove himself 
above the weakness of his fellow-countrymen. As White- 
field proceeded, Franklin relented and decided to give 
what coppers he had; then the silver, and then the gold; 
and when the plates were passed Franklin poured all he 
possessed into it and then asked a friend near him to loan 
more. 

‘The published sermons of Whitefield give no concep- 





REPENTANCE 


tion of the sway he cast over the thousands who heard 
him. ‘They are not marked for their logic nor for their 
deep penetration or subtle analysis. But always they 
ring with the note of earnestness. “The second personal 
pronoun is constantly employed, and it is evident from 
the beginning that Whitefield has in view the one end, the 
salvation of the souls of those who heard him. His sermon 
on “Repentance” is a good example of how Whitefield 
wrestled with souls. 


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Repentance 
“Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 3:3). 


HEN we consider how heinous and aggravating 
our offences are in the sight of a just and holy God, 
that they bring down his wrath upon our heads, and 
occasion us to live under his indignation; how ought we 
thereby to be deterred from evil, or at least engaged to 
study to repent thereof, and not commit the same again! 
But man is so thoughtless of an eternal state, and has so 
little consideration of the welfare of his immortal soul, that 
he can sin without any thought that he must give an account 
of his actions at the day of judgment; or if he, at times, has 
any reflections on his behaviour, they do not drive him to 
true repentance: he may, for a short time, refrain from fall- 
ing into some gross sins which he had lately committed; but 
then, when the temptation comes again with power, he is 
carried away with the lust: and thus he goes on promising 
and resolving, and in breaking both his resolutions and his 
promises, as fast almost as he has made them. This is 
highly offensive to God, it is mocking of him. My brethren, 
when grace is given us to repent truly, we shall turn wholly 
unto God; and let me beseech you to repent of your sins, for 
the time is hastening when you will have neither time nor 
call to repent; there is none in the grave, whither we are 
going; but do not be afraid, for God often receives the 
greatest sinner to mercy through the merits of Christ Jesus; 
this magnifies the riches of his free grace; and should be an 
encouragement for you, who are great and notorious sin- 
ners, to repent, for he will have mercy upon you, if you 
through Christ return unto him. 


213 





. 


214 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


St. Paul was an eminent instance of this: he speaks of 
himself as ‘‘the chief of sinners,’ and he declares how God 
shewed mercy unto him. Christ loves to shew mercy unto 
sinners, and if you repent, he will have mercy upon you. 
But as no word is more mistaken than that of repentance, 
I shall, 

I. Shew you what the nature of repentance is. 

II. Consider the several parts and causes of repentance. 

III. I shall give you some reasons, why repentance is 
necessary to salvation. And 

IV. Exhort all of you, high and low, rich and poor, one 
with another, to endeavour after repentance. 

I. Repentance, my brethren, in the first place, as to its 
nature, is the carnal and corrupt disposition of men being 
changed into a renewed and sanctified disposition. A man 
that has truly repented, is truly regenerated: it is a different 
word for one and the same thing; the motley mixture of the 
beast and devil is gone: there is, as it were, a new creation 
wrought in your hearts. If your repentance is true, you are 
renewed throughout, both in soul and body; your under- 
standings are enlightened with the knowledge of God, and 
of the Lord Jesus Christ; and your wills, which were stub- 
born, obstinate and hated all good, are obedient and con- 
formable to the will of God. Indeed, our deists tell us, that 
man now has a free will to do good, to love God, and to 
repent when he will: but indeed, there is no free will in any 
of you, but to sin; nay, your free will leads you so far, that 
you would, if possible, pull God from his throne. This may, 
perhaps, offend the Pharisees; but (it is the truth in Christ 
which I speak, I lie not) every man by his own natural will 
hates God; but when he is turned unto the Lord by evangeli- 
cal repentance, then his will is changed; then your con- 
sciences, now hardened and benumbed, shall be quickened 





REPENTANCE 215 


and awakened; then your hard hearts shall be melted, and 
your unruly affections shall be crucified. ‘Thus, by that re- 
pentance, the whole soul will be changed, you will have new 
inclinations, new desires, and new habits. 

You may see how vile we are by nature, that it requires 
so great a change to be made upon us, to recover us from 
this state of sin, and therefore the consideration of our 
dreadful state should make us earnest with God to change 
our conditions, and that change true repentance implies; 
therefore, my brethren, consider how hateful your ways are 
to God, while you continue in sin; how abominable you are 
unto him, while you run into evil: you cannot be said to be 
Christians while you are hating Christ, and his people; true 
repentance will entirely change you, the bias of your souls 
will be changed, then you will delight in God, in Christ, in 
his law, and in his people; you will then believe that there 
is such a thing as inward feeling, though now you may 
esteem it madness and enthusiasm; you will not then be 
ashamed of becoming fools for Christ’s sake; you will not 
regard being scoffed at; it is not then their pointing after 
you and crying, ‘‘Here comes another troop of his follow- 
ers,’ will dismay you; no, your soul will abhor such pro- 
ceedings, the ways of Christ and his people will be your 
whole delight. 

It is the nature of such repentance to make a change, 
and the greatest change as can be made here in the soul. 
Thus you see what repentance implies in its own nature; 
it denotes an abhorrence of all evil, and a forsaking of it. 
I shall now proceed, 

Secondly, to shew you the parts of it, and the causes 
concurring thereto. 

The parts are, sorrow, hatred, and an entire forsaking 
of sin. 





216 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


Our sorrow and grief for sin, must not spring merely 
from a fear of wrath; for if we have no other ground but 
that, it proceeds from self-love, and not from any love to 
God; and if love to God is not the chief motive of your re- 
pentance, your repentance is in vain, and not to be esteemed 
true. 

Many, in our days, think their crying, God forgive me! 
or, Lord have mercy upon me! or I am sorry for it! is re- 
pentance, and that God will esteem it as such: but, indeed, 
they are mistaken; it is not the drawing near to God with 
our lips, while our hearts are far from him, which he re- 
gards. Repentance does not come by fits and starts; no, 
it is one continued act of our lives; for as we daily commit 
sin, so we need a daily repentance before God, to obtain 
forgiveness for those sins we commit. 

It is not your confessing yourselves to be sinners, it is 
not knowing your condition to be sad and deplorable, so 
long as you continue in your sins: your care and endeavours 
should be, to get the heart thoroughly affected therewith, 
that you may feel yourselves to be lost and undone creatures, 
for Christ came to save such as are lost: and if you are en- 
abled to groan under the weight and burden of your sins, 
then Christ will ease you and give you rest. 

And till you are thus sensible of your misery and lost 
condition, you are a servant to sin and to your lusts, under 
the bondage and command of Satan, doing his drudgery: 
thou art under the curse of God, and liable to his judgment. 
Consider how dreadful thy state will be at death, and after 
the day of judgment, when thou wilt be exposed to such 
miseries which the ear hath not heard, neither can the heart 
conceive, and that to all eternity, if you die impenitent. 

But I hope better things of you, my brethren, though I 
thus speak, and things which accompany salvation; go to 


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REPENTANCE 2Vi 


God in prayer, and be earnest with him, that by his Spirit 
he would convince you of your miserable condition by na- 
ture, and make you truly sensible thereof. O be humbled, 
be humbled, I beseech you, for your sins! Having spent so 
many years in sinning, what canst thou do less, than be con- 
cerned to spend some hours in mourning and sorrowing for 
the same, and be humbled before God? 

Look back into your lives, call to mind thy sins, as many 
as possibly thou canst, the sins of thy youth, as well as of 
thy riper years: see how you have departed from a gracious 
Father, and wandered in the way of wickedness, in which 
you have lost yourselves, the favour of God, the comforts 
of his Spirit, and the peace of your own consciences; then go 
and beg pardon of the Lord, through the blood of the 
Lamb, for the evil thou hast committed, and for the good 
thou hast omitted. Consider, likewise, the heinousness of 
thy sins; see what very aggravating circumstances thy sins 
are attended with, how you have abused the patience of 
God, which should have led you to repentance; and when 


thou findest thy heart hard, beg of God to soften it, cry 


mightily unto him, and he will take away thy stony heart, 
and give thee a heart of flesh. 

Resolve to leave all thy sinful lusts and pleasures; re- 
nounce, forsake and abhor, thy old sinful course of life, and 
serve God in holiness and righteousness all the remaining 
part of life. If you lament and bewail past sins, and do not 
forsake them, your repentance is in vain, you are mocking 
of God, and deceiving your own soul; you must put off the 
old man, with his deeds, before you can put on the new 
man, Christ Jesus. 

You, therefore, who have been swearers and cursers, 
you, who have been harlots and drunkards, you, who have 
been thieves and robbers, you, who have hitherto followed 


218 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


the sinful pleasures and diversions of life, let me beseech 
you, by the mercies of God in Christ Jesus, that you would 
no longer continue therein, but that you would forsake your. 
evil ways, and turn unto the Lord, for he waiteth to be 
gracious unto you, he is ready, he is willing, to pardon you 
of all your sins: but do not expect Christ to pardon you of 
sin, when you run into it, and will not abstain from comply- 
ing with the temptations; but, if you will be persuaded to 
abstain from evil and choose the good, to return unto the 
Lord, and repent of your wickedness, he hath promised he 
will abundantly pardon you, he will heal your backslidings, 
and will love you freely. Resolve now this day to have done 
with your sins forever; let your old ways and you be sep- 
arated; you must resolve against it, for there can be no true 
repentance without a resolution to forsake it. Resolve for 
Christ, resolve against the devil and his works, and go on 
fighting the Lord’s battles against the devil and his emis- 
saries; attack him in the strongest holds he has, fight him 
as men, as Christians, and you will soon find him to be a 
coward; resist him, and he will fly from you. Resolve, 
through grace to do this, and your repentance is half done; 
but then take care that you do not ground your resolutions 
on your own strength, but in the strength of the Lord Jesus 
Christ; he is the way, he is the truth, and he is the life; 
without his assistance you can do nothing, but through his 
grace strengthening thee, thou wilt be enabled to do all 
things; and the more thou art sensible of thy own weakness 
and inability, the more ready Christ will be to help thee; 
and what can all the men of the world do to thee when 
Christ is for thee? thou wilt not regard what they say 
against thee, for thou wilt have the testimony of a good 
conscience. 

Resolve to cast thyself at the feet of Christ in subjec- 








REPENTANCE 219 


tion to him, and throw thyself into the arms of Christ for 
salvation by him. Consider, my dear brethren, the many in- 
vitations he has given you to come unto him, to be saved by 
him; God has “laid on him the iniquity of us all.” O let me 
prevail with you, above all things, to make choice of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, resign yourselves unto him, take him, O 
take him upon his own terms; and whosoever thou art, how 
great a sinner soever thou hast been, this evening, in the 
name of the great God do I offer Jesus Christ unto thee; as 
thou valuest thy life and soul, refuse him not, but stir up 
thyself to accept of the Lord Jesus, take him wholly as he 
is, for he will be applied wholly unto you, or else not at all. 
Jesus Christ must be your whole wisdom, Jesus Christ must 
be your whole righteousness, Jesus Christ mut be your 
whole sanctification, or he will never be your eternal re- 
demption. 

What though you have been ever so wicked and profli- 
gate, yet if you will now abandon your sins, and turn unto 
the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt have him given to thee, 
and all thy sins shall be freely forgiven. O why will you 
neglect the great work of your repentance; do not defer 
the doing of it one day longer, but today, even now, take 
that Christ who is freely offered to you. 

Now, as to the causes hereof, the first cause is God; he 
is the author, “we are born of God,” God hath begotten 
us, even God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; it is he 
that stirs us up to will and to do of his own good pleasure; 
and another cause is, God’s free grace; it is owing to the 
“riches of his free grace,’ my brethren, that we have been 
prevented from going down to hell long ago; it is because 
the compassions of the Lord fail not, they are new every 
morning, and fresh every evening. 

Sometimes the instruments are very unlikely: a poor 





220 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


despised minister or member of Jesus Christ, may, by the 
power of God, be made an instrument in the hands of God, 
of bringing you to true evangelical repentance; and this 
may be done, to shew that the power is not in men, but that 
it is entirely owing to the good pleasure of God; and if there 
has been any good done among any of you, by preaching 
the word, as I trust there has, though it were preached in 
a field, if God has met and owned us, and blessed his word, 
though preached by an enthusiastic babbler, a boy, a mad- 
man; I do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice, let foes say what 
they will. I shall now, 

Thirdly, shew the reasons why repentance is necessary 
to salvation. 

And this, my brethren, is plainly revealed to us in the 
word of God, ““The soul that does not repent and turn unto 
the Lord, shall die in its sins, and their blood shall be re- 
quired at their own hands.” It is necessary, as we have 
sinned, we should repent; for a holy God could not, nor 
ever can, or will, admit anything that is unholy into his 
presence: this is the beginning of grace in the soul; there 
must be a change in heart and life, before there can be a 
dwelling with a holy God. You cannot love sin and God 
too, you cannot love God and Mammon; no unclean person 
can stand in the presence of God, it is contrary to the holi- 
ness of his nature; there is a contrariety between the holy 
nature of God, and the unholy nature of carnal and un- 
regenerate men. 

What communication can there be between a sinless 
God, and creatures full of sin, between a pure God, and im- 
pure creatures? If you were to be admitted into heaven, 
with your present tempers, in your impenitent condition, 
heaven itself would be a hell to you; the songs of angels 
would be as enthusiasm, and would be intolerable to you; 





REPENTANCE 221 





therefore you must have these tempers changed, you must 
be holy as God is: he must be your God here, and you 
must be his people, or you will never dwell together to all 
eternity. If you hate the ways of God, and cannot spend 
an hour in his service, how will you think to be easy in all 
eternity, in singing praises to him that sits upon the throne, 
and to the Lamb forever. 

And this is to be the employment, my brethren, of all 
those who are admitted into this glorious place, where 
neither sin nor sinner is admitted, where no scoffer ever can 
come, without repentance from his evil ways, a turning unto 
God, and a cleaving unto him: this must be done, before any 
can be admitted into the glorious mansions of God, which 
are prepared for all that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sin- 
cerity and truth: repent ye then of all your sins. O my 
dear brethren, it makes my blood run cold, in thinking that 
any of you should not be admitted into the glorious man- 
sions above. O that it were in my power, I[ would place all of 
you, yea, you my scofiing brethren, and the greatest enemy 
I have on earth, at the right hand of Jesus; but this I can- 
not do: however, I advise and exhort you, with all love and 
tenderness, to make Jesus your refuge: fly to him for re- 
lief: Jesus died to save such as you; he is full of compassion; 
and if you go to him, as poor, lost, undone sinners, Jesus 
will give you his Spirit; you shall live and reign, and reign 
and live, you shall love and live, and live and love, with this 
Jesus to all eternity. 

[ am, Fourthly, to exhort all of you, high and low, rich 
and poor, one with another, to repent of all your sins, and 
turn unto the Lord. 

And I shall speak to each of you; for you have either 
repented, or you have not, you are believers in Christ Jesus, 
or unbelievers. 





222 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


And first, you who never have truly repented of your 
sins, and never have truly forsaken your lusts, be not of- 
fended if I speak plain to you; for it is love, love to your 
souls, that constrains me to speak: I shall lay before you 
your danger, and the misery to which you are exposed, while 
you remain impenitent in sin. And O that this may be a 
means of making you fly to Christ for pardon and forgive- 
ness. 

While thy sins are not repented of, thou art in danger 
of death; and if you should die, you would perish forever. 
There is no hope of any who live and die in their sins, but 
that they will dwell with devils and damned spirits to all 
eternity. And how do we know we shall live much longer? 
We are not sure of seeing our own habitations this night in 
safety. What mean ye then being at ease and pleasure 
while your sins are not pardoned. As sure as ever the word 
of God is true, if you die in that condition, you are shut out 
of all hope and mercy forever, and shall pass into easeless 
and endless misery. 

What is all thy pleasures and diversions worth? ‘They 
last but for a moment, they are of no worth, and but of 
short continuance. And sure it must be gross folly, eagerly 
to pursue those sinful lusts and pleasures, which war against 
the soul, which tend to harden the heart, and keep us from 
closing with the Lord Jesus; indeed, these are destructive 
of our peace here and, without repentance, will be of our 
peace hereafter. 

O the folly and madness of this sensual world; sure if 
there were nothing in sin but present slavery, it would keep 
an ingenuous spirit from it. But to do the devil’s drudgery! 
and if we do that, we shall have his wages, which is eternal 
death and condemnation: O consider this, my guilty breth- 
ren, you that think it no crime to swear, whore, drink or 


ee 





REPENTANCE 223 


scoff and jeer at the people of God; consider how your 
voices will then be changed, and you, that counted their 
lives madness, and their end without honour, shall howl and 
lament at your own madness and folly, that should bring 
you to so much woe and distress! ‘Then you will lament and 
bemoan your own dreadful condition: but it will be of no 
signification; for he that is now your merciful Saviour, will 
then become your inexorable Judge. Now he is easy to be 
entreated; but then, all your tears and prayers will be in 
vain: for God hath allotted to every man a day of grace, a 
time of repentance, which, if he does not improve, but ne- | 
glects and despises the means which are offered to him, he 
cannot be saved. 

Consider, therefore, while you are going on in a course 
of sin and unrighteousness, I beseech you, my brethren, to 
think of the consequence that will attend your thus misspend- 
ing your precious time; your souls are worth being con- 
cerned about: for if you can enjoy all the pleasures and 
diversions of life, at death you must leave them; that will 
put an end to all your worldly concerns. And will it not 
be very deplorable, to have your good things here, all your 
earthly, sensual, devilish pleasures, which you have been so 
much taken up with, all over: and the thought for how 
trifling a concern thou hast lost eternal welfare, will gnaw 
thy very soul. 

Thy wealth and grandeur will stand in no stead; thou 
canst carry nothing of it into the other world: then the con- 
sideration of thy uncharitableness to the poor, and the ways 
thou didst take to obtain thy wealth, will be a very hell unto 
thee. 

Now you enjoy the means of grace, as the preaching of 
his word, prayer, and sacraments; and God has sent his min- 
isters out into the fields and highways, to invite, to woo you 


224 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


to come in; but they are tiresome to thee, thou hadst rather 
be at thy pleasures: ere long, my brethren, they will be over, 
and you will be no more troubled with them; but then thou 
wouldst give ten thousand worlds for one moment of that 
merciful time of grace which thou hast abused; then thou 
wilt cry for a drop of that precious blood which now you 
trample under your feet; then you will wish for one more 
offer of mercy, for Christ and his free grace to be offered 
to you again; but your crying will be in vain: for as you 
would not repent here, God will not give you an oppor- 
tunity to repent hereafter; if you would not in Christ’s 
time, you shall not in your own. In what a dreadful con- 
dition will you then be? What horror and astonishment 
will possess your souls? ‘Then all thy lies and oaths, thy 
scoffs and jeers, at the people of God, all thy filthy and 
unclean thoughts and actions, thy misspent time in balls, 
plays, and assemblies, thy spending whole evenings at 
cards, dice, and masquerades, thy frequenting of taverns 
and alehouses, thy worldliness, covetousness, and thy un- 
charitableness, will be brought at once to thy remembrance, 
and at once charged upon thy guilty soul. And how can 
you bear the thoughts of these things? Indeed I am full 
of compassion towards you, to think that this should be 
the portion of any who now hear me. These are truths, 
though awful ones; my brethren, these are the truths of the 
Gospel; and if there were not a necessity for thus speaking, 
I would willingly forbear, for it is no pleasing subject to 
me, any more than it is to you; but it is my duty to shew you 
the dreadful consequences of continuing in sin. I am only 
now acting the part of a skilful surgeon, that searches a 
wound before he heals it: I would shew you your danger 
first; that deliverance may be the more readily accepted by 
you. 








REPENTANCE 225 


Consider, that however you may be for putting the evil 
day away from you, and are now striving to hide your sins, 
at the day of judgment there shall be a full discovery of all; 
hidden things on that day shall be brought to light; and 
after all thy sins have been revealed to the whole world, 
then you must depart into everlasting fire in hell, which will 
not be quenched night and day; it will be without intermis- 
sion, without end. O then, what stupidity and senselessness 
hath possessed your hearts, that you are not frighted from 
your sins. The fear of Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace, 
made men do anything to avoid it; and shall not an ever- 
lasting fire make men, make you, do anything to avoid it? 

O that this would awaken and cause you to humble your- 
selves for your sins, and to beg pardon for them, that you 
might find mercy in the Lord. 

Do not go away, let not the devil hurry you away before 
the sermon is over; but stay, and you shall have a Jesus 
offered to you, who has made full satisfaction for all your 
sins. 

Let me beseech you to cast away your trangressions, to 
strive against sin, to watch against it, and to beg power and 
strength from Christ, to keep down the power of those lusts 
that hurry you on in your sinful ways. 

But if you will not do any of these things, if you are re- 
solved to sin on, you must expect eternal death to be the 
consequence; you must expect to be seized with horror and 
trembling, with horror and amazement, to hear the dread- 
ful sentence of condemnation pronounced against you: and 
then you will run, and call upon the mountains to fall on 
you, to hide you from the Lord, and from the fierce anger 
of his wrath. 

Had you now a heart to turn from your sins unto the 
living God, by true and unfeigned repentance, and to pray 





226 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


unto him for mercy, in and through the merits of Jesus 
Christ, there were hope: but at the day of judgment, thy 
prayers and tears will be of no signification; they will be of 
no service to thee; the Judge will not be entreated by thee; 
as you would not hearken to him when he called unto thee, 
but despised both him and his ministers, and would not leave 
your iniquities; therefore, on that day he will not be en- 
treated, notwithstanding all thy cries and tears; for God 
himself hath said, ‘‘Because I have called, and you refused; 
I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded, but 
ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would have none 
of my reproof; I will also laugh at your calamity, and mock 
when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction 
cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh 
upon you: then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer, 
they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.” 

Now, you may call this enthusiasm and madness; but at 
that great day, if you repent not of your sins here, you will 
find, by woeful experience, that your own ways were mad- 
ness indeed; but God forbid it should be left undone till 
then: seek after the Lord while he is to be found; call upon 
him while he is near, and you shall find mercy; repent this 
hour, and Christ will joyfully receive you. 

What say you? Must I go to my Master, and tell him 
you will not come unto him, and will have none of his coun- 
sels? No; do not send me on so unhappy an errand: I can- 
not, I will not tell him any such thing. Shall not I rather 
tell him, you are willing to repent and to be converted, to 
become new men, and take up a new course of life: this is 
the only wise resolution you can make. Let me tell my 
Master, that you will come unto and will wait upon him: for 
if you do not, it will be your ruin in time, and to eternity. 

You will at death wish you had lived the life of the 








REPENTANCE 227 





righteous, that you might have died his death. Be advised 
then; consider what is before you, Christ and the world, 
holiness and sin, life and death: choose now for yourselves ; 
let your choice be made immediately, and let that choice be 
your dying choice. 

If you would not choose to die in your sins, to die drunk- 
ards, to die adulterers, to die swearers and scoffers, etc., 
live not out this night in the dreadful condition you are in. 
Some of you, it may be, may say, You have not power, you 
have no strength; but have not you been wanting to your- 
selves in such things that were within your power? Have 
you not as much power to go to hear a sermon, as to go into 
a play-house, or to a ball, or masquerade? You have as 
much power to read the Bible, as to read plays, novels, and 
romances; and you can associate as well with the godly, as 
with the wicked and profane; this is but an idle excuse, my - 
brethren, to go on in your sins: and if you will be found in 
the means of grace, Christ hath promised he will give you 
strength. While Peter was preaching, the Holy Ghost fell 
on all that heard the word: how then should you be found 
in the way of your duty! Jesus Christ will then give thee 
strength; he will put his Spirit within thee; thou shalt find 
he will be thy wisdom, thy righteousness, thy sanctification, 
and thy redemption. Do but try what a gracious, a kind, 
and loving Master he is, he will be a help to thee in all thy 
burdens: and if the burden of sin be on thy soul, go to him 
as weary and heavy laden, and thou shalt find rest. 

Do not say, that your sins are too many and too great 
to expect to find mercy: No; be they ever so many, or ever 
so great, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ will cleanse you 
from all sins. God’s grace, my brethren, is free, rich, and 
sovereign. Manasseh was a great sinner, and yet he was 
pardoned; Zaccheus was gone far from God, and went out 








228 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


to see Christ, with no other view but to satisfy his curiosity; 
and yet Jesus met him, and brought salvation to his house. 
Manasseh was an idolater and murderer, yet he received 
mercy; the other was an oppressor and extortioner, who had 
gotten riches by fraud and deceit, and by grinding the faces 
of the poor: so did Matthew too, and yet they found mercy. 

Have you been blasphemers and persecutors of the 
saints and servants of God? So was St. Paul, yet he re- 
ceived mercy: have you been common harlots, filthy and 
unclean persons? So was Mary Magdalene, and yet she re- 
ceived mercy. Hast thou been a thief? The thief upon the 
cross found mercy. I despair of none of you, however vile 
and profligate you have been; I say, I despair of none of — 
you, especially when God has had mercy on such a wretch 
as I am. 

Remember the poor Publican, how he found favour with © 
God, when the proud, self-conceited Pharisee, who, puffed 
up with his own righteousness, was rejected. And if you 
will go to Jesus, as the poor Publican did, under a sense of © 
your own unworthiness, you shall find favour as he did: © 
there is virtue enough in the blood of Jesus, to pardon — 
greater sinners than he has yet pardoned. Then be not dis- 
couraged, but come unto Jesus, and you will find him ready 
to help in all thy distresses, to lead thee into all truth, to 
bring thee from darkness to light, and from the power of 
Satan unto God. 

Do not let the devil deceive you, by telling you, that 
then all your delights and pleasures will be over: No; this 
is so far from depriving you of all pleasure, that it is an in- 
let unto unspeakable delights, peculiar to all who are truly — 
regenerated. ‘The new birth is the very beginning of a life 
of peace and comfort; and the greatest pleasantness is to 
be found in the ways of holiness. Solomon, who had experi- 





REPENTANCE 229 


ence of all other pleasures, yet saith of the ways of godli- 
ness, ‘That all her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all 
her paths are paths of peace.’’ Then sure you will not let 
the devil deceive you; it is all he wants, it is that he aims at, 
to make religion appear to be melancholy, miserable, and 
enthusiastic: but let him say what he will, give not ear to 
him, regard him not, for he always was and will be a liar. 

What words, what entreaties, shall I use, to make you 
come unto the Lord Jesus Christ? The little love I have 
experienced since I have been brought from sin to God, is 
so great, that I would not be in a natural state for ten thou- 
sand worlds, and what I have felt is but little to what I 
hope to feel; but that little love which I have experienced, 
is a sufficient buoy against all the storms and tempests of 
this boisterous world: and let men and devils do their worst, 
I rejoice in the Lord Jesus, yea, and I will rejoice. 

And O if you repent and come to Jesus, I would rejoice 
on your accounts too: and we should rejoice together to all 
eternity, when once passed on the other side of the grave. 
O come to Jesus. The arms of Jesus Christ will embrace 
you; he will wash away all your sins in his blood, and will 
love you freely. 

Come, I beseech you to come unto Jesus Christ. O that 
my words would pierce to the very soul! O that Jesus Christ 
was formed in you! O that you would turn to the Lord 
Jesus Christ, that he might have mercy upon you! 

I would speak till midnight, yea, I would speak till I 
could speak no more, so it might be a means to bring you 
to Jesus: let the Lord Jesus but enter your souls, and you 
shall find peace which the world can neither give nor take 
away. There is mercy for the greatest sinner amongst you; 


230 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


go unto the Lord as sinners, helpless and undone without 
it, and then you shall find comfort in your souls, and be ad- 
mitted at last amongst those who sing praises to the Lord 
to all eternity. 

Now, my brethren, let me speak a word of exhortation 
to those of you, who are already brought to the Lord Jesus, 
who are born again, who do belong to God, to whom it has 
been given to repent of your sins, and are cleansed from 
their guilt; and that is, Be thankful to God for his mercies 
towards you. O admire the grace of God, and bless his 
name forever! Are you made alive in Christ Jesus? Is the 
life of God begun in your souls, and have you the evidence 
thereof? Be thankful for this unspeakable mercy to you: 
never forget to speak of his mercy. And as your life was 
formerly devoted to sin, and to the pleasures of the world, 
let it now be spent wholly in the ways of God; and O em- 
brace every opportunity of doing and of receiving good. 
Whatsoever opportunity you have, do it vigorously, do it 
speedily, do not defer it. If thou seest one hurrying on to 
destruction, use the utmost of thy endeavour to stop him in 
his course; shew him the need he has of repentance, and that 
without it he is lost forever; do not regard his despising of 
you; still go on to show him his danger: and if thy friends 
mock and despise, do not let that discourage you; hold on, 
hold out to the end, so you shall have a crown which is im- 
mutable, and that fadeth not away. 

Let the love of Jesus to you, keep you also humble; do 
not be high-minded, keep close unto the Lord, observe the 
rules which the Lord Jesus Christ has given in his word, 
and let not the instructions be lost which you are capable of 
giving. O consider what reason you have to be thankful to 








REPENTANCE 231 





the Lord Jesus Christ for giving you that repentance you 
yourselves had need of; a repentance which worketh by 
love. Now you find more pleasure in walking with God one 
hour, than in all your former carnal delights, and all the 
pleasures of sin. O! the joy you feel in your own souls, 
which all the men of this world, and all the devils in hell, 
though they were to combine together, could not destroy. 
Then fear not their wrath or malice, for through many 
tribulations we must enter into glory. 

A few days, or weeks, or years more, and then you will 
be beyond their reach, you will be in the heavenly Jeru- 
salem; there is all harmony and love, there is all joy and 
delight; there the weary is at rest. 

Now we have many enemies, but at death they are all 
lost; they cannot follow us beyond the grave: and this is a 
great encouragement to us not to regard the scoffs and jeers 
of the men of this world. 

O let the love of Jesus be in your thoughts continually. 
It was his dying that brought you life; it was his crucifixion 
that paid the satisfaction for your sins; his death, burial, 
and resurrection, that completed the work; and he is now 
in heaven, interceding for you at the right hand of his 
Father. And can you do too much for the Lord Jesus 
Christ, who has done so much for you? His love to you is 
unfathomable. O the height, the depth, the length and 
breadth, of this love, that brought the King of glory from 
his throne, to die for such rebels as we are, when we had 
acted so unkindly against him, and deserved nothing but 
eternal damnation. He came down and took our nature 
upon him; he was made of flesh, and dwelt among us; he 
was put to death on our account; he paid our ransom: 





232 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


surely this should make us love the Lord Jesus Christ; 
should make us rejoice in him, and not do as too many do, 
and as we ourselves have too often, crucify this Jesus fresh. 
Let us do all we can, my dear brethren, to honour him. 

Come, all of you, come, and behold him stretched out 
for you; see his hands and feet nailed to the cress. O come, 
come, my brethren, and nail your sins thereto; come, come 
and see his side pierced; there is a fountain open for sin, 
and for uncleanness: O wash, wash, and be clean: come 
and see his head crowned with thorns, and all for you. Can 
you think of a panting, bleeding, dying Jesus, and not be 
filled with pity towards him? He underwent all this for 
you. Come unto him by faith; lay hold on him; there is 
mercy for every soul of you that will come unto him. Then 
do not delay; fly unto the arms of this Jesus, and you shall 
be made clean in his blood. 

O what shall I say unto you, to make you come to 
Jesus: I have shewed you the dreadful consequences of not 
repenting of your sins; and if, after all I have said, you are 
resolved to persist, your blood will be required at your own 
hands: but I hope better things of you, and things that ac- 
company salvation. Let me beg of you to pray in good 
earnest for the grace of repentance. I may never see your 
faces again; but at the day of judgment I will meet you: 
there you will either bless God that ever you were moved 
to repentance; or else this sermon, though in a field, will 
be as a swift witness against you. Repent, repent, therefore, 
my dear brethren, as John the Baptist, and our blessed Re- 
deemer himself earnestly exhorted, and turn from your evil 
ways, and the Lord will have mercy on you. j 

Shew them, O Father, wherein they have offended thee; 








REPENTANCE PAY 





make them to see their own vileness, and that they are lost 
and undone without true repentance; and O give them that 
repentance, we beseech of thee, that they may turn from 
sin unto thee, the living and true God. These things, and 
whatever else thou seest needful for us, we entreat that thou 
wouldest bestow upon us, on account of what the dear Jesus 
Christ has done and suffered; to whom, with thyself and 
holy Spirit, three persons, and one God, be ascribed, as is 
most due, all power, glory, might, majesty, and dominion, 
now, henceforth, and for evermore. Amen. 





The General Resurrection 





SAMUEL DAVIES 


AMUEL DAVIES, one of the great preachers of 
S colonial America, was born in Pennsylvania in 1724, 
and died at Princeton, New Jersey, in 1761. He was 
ordained as a Presbyterian minister and settled at Hano- 
ver, near Richmond, Virginia. In 1753, Dr. Davies was 
chosen to go abroad with the Reverend Gilbert Tennant to 
solicit funds for the College of New Jersey, now Princeton 
University. When Davies was in England, King George 
II heard of his fame and invited him to preach in the 
royal chapel. Davies noticed the king talking and smiling 
with those near him during the sermon, and pausing in his 
discourse, fixed his eyes on the monarch and said, ‘“When 
the lion roars, the beasts of the forest all tremble, and 
when king Jesus speaks the princes of the earth should keep 
silence.” “The comments of the king were decl. 1‘ to have 
been expressions of wonder and delight at the :ioquence 
of the preacher. At all events, King George mac. a hand- 
some donation to the college fund, and when he died 
Davies preached a sermon upon his character and death. 
In 1759, Dr. Davies was chosen to succeed Jonathan 
Edwards as president of Princeton. a 

Davies wrote out his sermons with great care, but in the 
delivery of them he was free and eloquent. Commenting 
on his own preaching, he said: “Perhaps once in three or 
four months I preach in some measure as I could wish, 
that is, I preach as in the sight of God and as if I were to 
step from the pulpit to the supreme tribunal. I feel my 
subject. I melt into tears or shudder with horror when I 
denounce the terrors of the Lord. I glow, J soar in sacred 
ecstacies when the love of Jesus is my theme, and, as Mr. 
Baxter was wont to express it, in lines more striking to 
me than all the fine poetry in the world, 


‘IT preach as if I ne’er should preach again; 
And as a dying man to dying men.’ ” 


235 





236 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


The General Resurrection and the Last Judgment are 
themes which have stirred the souls of great preachers 
ever since St. Paul made Felix tremble as he reasoned with 
him of righteousness and temperance and judgment to 
come. In Dr. Davies’ powerful sermon, “The General 
Resurrection,” the most striking and effective portion is 
where he describes the reluctant soul of the wicked, joined 
to its body in the day of resurrection, denouncing the 
body as the cause of its failure in time and its misery in 
eternity. 


The General Resurrection 


“The hour is coming in the which all that are in the grave 
shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have 
done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have 
done evil, to the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:28, 


29). 


VER since sin entered into the world and death by 
sin, this earth has been a vast grave-yard, or burying- 
place, for her children. In every age, and in every 

country, that sentence has been executing, “Dust thou art, 
and unto dust thou shalt return.’”’ The earth has been 
arched with graves, the last lodgings of mortals, and the 
bottom of the ocean paved with the bones of men. Human 
nature was at first confined to one pair, but how soon and 
how wide did it spread! How inconceivably numerous are 
the sons of Adam! How many different nations on our 
globe contain many millions of men even in one generation! 
And how many ‘generations have succeeded one another in 
the long run of near six thousand years! Let imagination 
call up this vast army: children that just light upon our 
globe, and then wing their flight into an unknown world; 
the gray-headed that have had a long journey through life; 
the blooming youth, and the middle-aged, let them pass in 
review before us from all countries and from all ages; and 
how vast and astonishing the multitude! If the posterity 
of one man (Abraham) by one son was, according to the 
divine promise, as the stars of heaven, or as the sand by the 
sea-shore, innumerable, what numbers can compute the mul- 
titudes that have sprung from all the patriarchs, the sons 
of Adam and Noah! but what is become of them all? 


237 





238 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


Alas! they are turned into earth, their original element; 
they are all imprisoned in the grave, except the present 
generation, and we are dropping one after another in quick 
succession into that “place appointed for all living.” There 
has not been perhaps a moment of time for five thousand 
years, but what some one or other has sunk into the man- 
sions of the dead; and in some fatal hours, by the sword 
of war or the devouring jaws of earthquakes, thousands 
have been cut off and swept away at once, and left in one 
huge promiscuous carnage. Y The greatest number of man- 
kind beyond comparison are sleeping under ground. There 
lies beauty mouldering into dust, rotting into stench and 
loathsomeness, and feeding the vilest worms. ‘There lies 
the head that once wore a crown, as low and contemptible 
as the meanest beggar. ‘There lie the mighty giants, the 
heroes and conquerors, the Samsons, the Ajaxes, the Alex- 
anders, and the Caesars of the world! there they lie stupid, 
senseless and inactive, and unable to drive off the worms 
that riot on their marrow, and make their houses in those 
sockets where the eyes sparkled with living lustre. There 
lie the wise and the learned, as rotten, as helpless as the 
fool. ‘There lie some that we once conversed with, some 
that were our friends, our companions; and there lie our 
fathers and mothers, our brothers and sisters. ¥v 

And shall they lie there always? Shall this body, this 
curious workmanship of Heaven, so wonderfully and fear- 
fully made, always lie in ruins, and never be repaired? Shall 
the wide-extended valleys of dry bones never more live? 
This we know, that “it is not a thing impossible with God 
to raise the dead.’’ He that could first form our bodies 
out of nothing, is certainly able to form them anew, and 
repair the wastes of time and death. But what is his de- 
clared will in this case? On this the matter turns; and this 


THE GENERAL RESURRECTION 239 


is fully revealed in my text. ‘“‘The hour is coming, when all 
that are in the graves,’ all that are dead, without exception, 
“shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall come 
forth.” 

And for what end shall they come forth? O! for very 
different purposes; “‘some to the resurrection of life; and 
some to the resurrection of damnation.”’ 

And what is the ground of this vast distinction? Or 
what is the difference in character between those that shall 
receive so different a doom? It is this, ‘““They that have 
done good shall rise to life, and they that have done evil to 
damnation.”’ It is this, and this only, that will then be the 
rule of distinction. 

I would avoid all art in my method of handling this 
subject, and intend only to illustrate the several parts of 
the text. “‘All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 
and shall come forth; they that have done well to the 
resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, to the 
resurrection of damnation.” 

I. They that are in the graves shall hear his voice. 
The voice of the Son of God here probably means the 
sound of the archangel’s trumpet, which is called his voice, 
because sounded by his orders and attended with his all- 
quickening power. ‘This all-awakening call to the tenants 
of the grave we frequently find foretold in Scripture. I 
shall refer you to two plain passages. ‘Behold,’ says 
‘St. Paul, “I show you a mystery,” an important and aston- 
ishing secret, ‘‘we shall not all sleep;’’ that is, mankind will 
not all be sleeping in death when that day comes; there will 
be a generation then alive upon the earth, and though they 
cannot have a proper resurrection, yet they shall pass 
through a change equivalent to it. “We shall all be 
changed,” says he, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an 


240 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound,” it shall 
give the alarm; and no sooner is the awful clangor heard 
than all the living shall be transformed into immortals; 
‘and the dead shall be raised incorruptible’; and we, “‘who 
are then alive, shall be changed’’; this is all the difference, 
‘they shall be raised, and we shall be changed.” This 
awful prelude of the trumpet is also mentioned again: ““We 
which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord 
shall not prevent them which are asleep”; that is, we shall 
not be beforehand with them in meeting our descending 
Lord, “for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven 
with a shout, with the voice of the archangels, and with 
the trump of God’’; that 1s, with a godlike trump, such as 
it becomes his majesty to sound, ‘“‘and the dead in Christ 
shall rise first:’’ that is, before the living shall be caught 
up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and when 
they are risen, and the living transformed, they shall ascend 
together to the place of judgment. 

My brethren, realize the majesty and terror of this 
universal alarm. When the dead are sleeping in the silent 
grave; when the living are thoughtless and unapprehensive 
of the grand event, or intent on other pursuits; some of 
them asleep in the dead of night; some of them dissolved in © 
sensual pleasures, eating and drinking, marrying and giving 
in marriage; some of them planning or executing schemes 
for riches or honors; some in the very act of sin; the gen- 
erality stupid and careless about the concerns of eternity, 
and the dreadful day just at hand; and a few here and there © 
conversing with their God, and “looking for the glorious 
appearance of their Lord and Saviour; when the course of 
nature runs on uniform and regular as usual, and infidel 
scoffers are taking umbrage from thence to ask, ‘‘Where 
is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell 








THE GENERAL RESURRECTION 241 


asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning 
of the creation.’”’ O what a surprise will this be to a 
thoughtless world! Should this alarm burst over our heads 
this moment, into what a terror would it strike many in 
this assembly? Such will be the terror, such the consterna- 
tion, when it actually comes to pass. Sinners will be the 
same timorous, self-condemned creatures then, as they are 
now. And then they will not be able to stop their ears, who 
are deaf to all the gentler calls of the Gospel now. Then 
the trump of God will constrain them to hear and fear, to 
whom the ministers of Christ now preach in vain. ‘Then 
they must all hear, for, 

Il. My text tells you, “‘all that are in the graves,” all 
without exception, “‘shall hear his voice.’ Now the voice 
of mercy calls, reason pleads, conscience warns, but multi- 
tudes will not hear. But this is a voice which shall, which 
must reach every one of the millions of mankind, and not 
one of them will be able to stop his ears. Infants and 
giants, kings and subjects, all ranks, all ages of mankind 
shall hear the call. The living shall start and be changed, 
and the dead rise at the sound. The dust that was once 
alive and formed a human body, whether it flies in the air, 
floats in the ocean, or vegetates on earth, shall hear the 
new-creating fiat. Wherever the fragments of the human 
frame are scattered, this all-penetrating call shall reach and 
speak them into life. We may consider this voice as a sum- 
mons not only to dead bodies to rise, but to souls that once 
animated them, to appear and be re-united to them, whether 
in heaven or hell. To the grave, the call will be, “Arise, ye 
dead, and come to judgment’; to heaven, ye “‘spirits of 
just men made perfect’’; ‘descend to the world whence you 
originally came; and assume your new-formed bodies’’: to 
hell, “Come forth and appear, ye damned ghosts, ye prison- 





242 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WoRLD 


ers of darkness, and be again united to the bodies in which 
you once sinned, that in them ye may now suffer.”’ Thus 
will this summons spread through every corner of the uni- 
verse; and heaven, earth and hell, and all their inhabitants, 
shall hear and obey. Devils, as well as sinners of our race, 
will tremble at the sound; for now they know they can plead 
no more as they once did, ‘“Torment us not before the 
time’’; for the time is come, and they must mingle with the 
prisoners at the bar. And now when all that are in the 
graves hear this all-quickening voice, 

III. ‘“They shall come forth.’”’ Now methinks I see, I 
hear the earth heaving, charnel-houses rattling, tombs 
bursting, graves opening. Now the nations under ground 
begin to stir. [here is a noise and a shaking among the 
dry bones. ‘The dust is all alive, and in motion, and the 
globe breaks and trembles, as with an earthquake, while 
this vast army is working its way through and bursting into 
life. The ruins of human bodies are scattered far and wide, 
and have passed through many and surprising transforma- 
tions. A limb in one country, and another in another; here 
the head and there the trunk, and the ocean rolling between. 
Multitudes have sunk in a watery grave, been swallowed 
up by the monsters of the deep, and transformed into a 
part of their flesh. Multitudes have been eaten by beasts 
and birds of prey, and incorporated with them; and some 
have been devoured by their fellow-men in the rage of a 
desperate hunger, or of unnatural cannibal appetite, and 
digested into a part of them. Multitudes have mouldered 
into dust, and this dust has been blown about by winds, and 
washed away with water, or it has petrified into stone, or 
been burnt into brick to form dwellings for their posterity; 
or it has grown up in grain, trees, plants, and other vege- 
tables, which are the support of man and beast, and are 








THE GENERAL RESURRECTION 243 


transformed into their flesh and blood. But through all 
these various transformations and changes, not a particle 
that was essential to one human body has been lost, or in- 
corporated with another human body, so as to become an 
essential part of it. And as to those particles that were not 
essential, they are not necessary to the identity of the body 
or of the person; and therefore we need not think they will 
be raised again. The omniscient God knows how to collect, 
distinguish, and compound all those scattered and mingled 
seeds of our mortal bodies. And now at the sound of the 
trumpet, they shall all be collected, wherever they were 
scattered; all properly sorted and united, however they were 
confused; atom to its fellow-atom, bone to its fellow-bone. 
Now methinks you may see the air darkened with frag- 
ments of bodies flying from country to country, to meet and 
join their proper parts. 

Then, my brethren, your dust and mine shall be reani- 
mated and organized; ‘‘and though after our skin worms 
destroy these bodies, yet in our flesh shall we see God.”’ 

And what a vast improvement will the frail nature of 
man then receive? Our bodies will then be substantially 
the same; but how different in qualities, in strength, in 
agility, in capacities for pleasure or pain, in beauty or de- 
formity, in glory or terror, according to the moral charac- 
ter of the persons to whom they belong. Matter, we know, 
is capable of prodigious alterations and refinements; and 
there it will appear in the highest perfection. ‘The bodies 
of the saints will be formed glorious, incorruptible, with- 
out the seeds of sickness and death. ‘The glorified body of 
Christ, which is undoubtedly carried to the highest perfec- 
tion that matter is capable of, will be the pattern after 
which they shall be formed. “He will change our vile 
body,” says St. Paul, “that it may be fashioned like unto 





244 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


his glorious body.” ‘Flesh and blood,” in their present 
state of grossness and frailty, “cannot inherit the kingdom 
of God: neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. But 
this corruptible body must put on incorruption; and this 
mortal must put on immortality.” And how vast the 
change, how high the improvement from this present state! 
“Tt was sown in corruption, it shall be raised in incorrup- 
tion; it was sown in dishonor, it shall be raised in glory; it 
was sown in weakness, it shall be raised in power.” Then 
will the body be able to bear up under the exceeding great 
and eternal weight of glory; it will no longer be a clog or 
an incumbrance to the soul, but a proper instrument and 
assistant in all the exalted services and enjoyments of the 
heavenly state. 

The bodies of the wicked will also be improved, but 
their improvements will all be terrible and vindictive. 
Their capacities will be thoroughly enlarged, but then it 
will be that they may be made capable of greater misery; 
they will be strengthened, but it will be that they may bear 
the heavier load of torment. ‘Their sensations will be more 
quick and strong, but it will be that they may feel the more 
exquisite pain. They will be raised immortal that they may 
not be consumed by everlasting fire, or escape punishment 
by dissolution or annihilation. In short, their augmented 
strength, their enlarged capacities, and their immortality, 
will be their eternal curse; and they would willingly ex- 
change them for the fleeting duration of a fading flower, 
or the faint sensations of an infant. The only power they 
would rejoice in is that of self-annihilation. 

And now when the bodies are completely formed and fit 
to be inhabited, the souls that once animated them being 
collected from Heaven and Hell, re-enter and take posses- 
sion of their old mansions, ‘They are united in bonds which 








THE GENERAL RESURRECTION 245 


shall never more be dissolved: and the mouldering taber- 
nacles are now become everlasting habitations. 

And with what joy will the spirits of the righteous wel- 
come their old companions from their long sleep in the 
dust, and congratulate their glorious resurrection! How 
will they rejoice to re-enter their old habitations, now so 
completely repaired and highly improved! to find those 
bodies which were once their incumbrance, once frail and 
mortal, in which they were imprisoned, and languished, 
once their temptation, tainted with the seeds of sin, now 
their assistants and co-partners in the business of heaven, 
now vigorous, incorruptible, and immortal, now free from 
all corrupt mixtures, and shining in all the beauties of per- 
fect holiness! In these bodies they once served their God 
with honest though feeble efforts, conflicted with sin and 
temptation, and passed through all the united trials and 
hardships of mortality and the Christian life. But now 
they are united to them for more exalted and blissful pur- 
poses. The lungs that were wont to heave with penitential 
sighs and groans, shall now shout forth their joys and the 
praises of their God and Saviour. The heart that was once 
broken with sorrows shall now be bound up for ever, and 
overflow with immortal pleasures. ‘Those very eyes that 
were wont to run down with tears, and to behold many a 
tragical sight, shall now “behold the King in his beauty,” 
shall behold the Saviour whom, though unseen, they loved, 
and all the glories of heaven; and ‘“‘God shall wipe away all 
their tears.” All the senses, which were once avenues of 
pain, shall now be inlets of the most exalted pleasure. In 
short, every organ, every member shall be employed in the 
most noble services and enjoyments, instead of the sordid 
and laborious drudgery, and the painful sufferings of the 


a 





246 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


present state. Blessed change indeed! Rejoice, ye children 
of God, in the prospect of it. 

But how shall I glance a thought upon the dreadful 
case of the wicked in that tremendous day! While their 
bodies burst from their graves, the miserable spectacles of 
horror and deformity, see the millions of gloomy ghosts 
that once animated them, rise like pillars of smoke from 
the bottomless pit! and with what reluctance and anguish 
do they re-enter their old habitations! O what a dreadful 
meeting! What shocking salutations! ‘And must I be 
chained to thee again, (may the guilty soul say) O thou 
accursed, polluted body, thou system of deformity and 
terror! In thee I once sinned, by thee I was once ensnared, 
debased, and ruined: to gratify thy vile lusts and appetites 
I neglected my own immortal interests, degraded my native 
dignity, and made myself miserable forever. And hast 
thou now met me to torment me forever? O that thou 
hadst still slept in the dust, and never been repaired again! 
Let me rather be condemned to animate a toad or serpent 
than that odious body once defiled with sin, and the instru- 
ment of my guilty pleasures, now made strong and immortal 
to torment me with strong and immortal pains. Once in- 
deed I received sensations of pleasure from thee, but now 
thou art transformed into an engine of torture. No more 
shall I through thine eyes behold the cheerful light of the 
day, and the beautiful prospects of nature, but the thick 
glooms of hell, grim and ghastly ghosts, heaven at an im- 
passable distance, and all the horrid sights of woe in the 
infernal regions. No more shall thine ears charm me with 
the harmony of sounds, but terrify and distress me with the 
echo of eternal groans, and the thunder of almighty ven- 
geance! No more shall the gratification of thine appetites 
afford me pleasure, but thine appetites, forever hungry, for- 





THE GENERAL RESURRECTION 247 


ever unsatisfied, shall eternally torment me with their eager 
importunate cravings. No more shall thy tongue be em- 
ployed in mirth, and jest, and song, but complain, and 
groan, and blaspheme, and roar forever. ‘Thy feet, that 
once walked in the flowery enchanted paths of sin, must 
now walk on the dismal burning soil of hell. O my wretched 
companion! [| parted with thee with pain and reluctance in 
the struggles of death, but now I meet with greater terror 
and agony. Return to thy bed in the dust; there to sleep 
and rot, and let me never see thy shocking visage more.” 
In vain the petition! the reluctant soul must enter its prison, 
from whence it shall never more be dismissed. And if we 
might indulge imagination so far, we might suppose the 
body begins to recriminate in such language as this: ‘“‘Come, 
guilty soul, enter thy old mansion; if it be horrible and 
shocking, it is owing to thyself. Was not the animal frame, 
the brutal nature, subjected to thy government, who art a 
rational principle? Instead of being debased by me, it 
became thee to have not only retained the dignity of thy 
nature, but to have exalted mine, by nobler employments 
and gratifications worthy an earthly body united to an 
immortal spirit. Thou mightest have restrained my mem- 
bers from being the instruments of sin, and made them the 
instruments of righteousness. My knees would have bowed 
at the throne of grace, but thou didst not affect that posture. 
Mine eyes would have read, and mine ears heard the word 
of life; but thou wouldest not set them to that employ, or 
wouldest not attend to it. And now it is but just the body 
thou didst prostitute to sin should be the instrument of thy 
punishment. Indeed, fain would I relapse into senseless 
earth as I was, and continue in that insensibility forever: 
—but didst thou not hear the all-rousing trumpet just now? 
did it not even shake the foundations of thy infernal prison? 





248 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


It was that call that awakened me, and summoned me to 
meet thee, and I could not resist it. “Therefore come, miser- 
able soul, take possession of this frame, and let us prepare 
for everlasting burning. O that it were now possible to 
die! O that we could be again separated, and never be 
united more! Vain wish; the weight of mountains, the 
pangs of hell, the flames of unquenchable fire, can never 
dissolve these chains which now bind us together!” 

But for what end do these sleeping multitudes rise? For 
what purposes do they come forth? My text will tell you. 

IV. ‘They shall come forth ‘‘some to the resurrection 
of life, and some to the resurrection of damnation.” ‘They — 
are summoned from their graves to stand at the bar, and 
brought out of prison by angelic guards to pass their last 
trial. And as in this impartial trial they will be found to 
be persons of very different characters, the righteous Judge 
of the earth will accordingly pronounce their different 
doom. 

See a glorious “multitude, which none can number,” 
openly acquitted, pronounced blessed, and welcomed “into 
the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the 
world.’”’ Now they enter upon a state which deserves the 
name of life. They are all vital, all active, all glorious, all 
happy. They “shine brighter than the stars in the firma- 
ment; like the sun forever and ever.’ All their faculties 
overflow with happiness. They mingle with the glorious 
company of angels; they behold that Saviour whom unseen 
they loved; they dwell in eternal intimacy with the Father 
of their spirits; they are employed with ever-new and grow- 
ing delight in the exalted services of the heavenly sanctuary. 
They shall never more fear, nor feel the least touch of 
sorrow, pain, or any kind of misery, but shall be as happy 
as their natures can admit through an immortal duration. 








THE GENERAL RESURRECTION 249 


What a glorious new creation is here! what illustrious crea- 
tures formed of the dust! And shall any of us join in this 
happy company? O shall any of us, feeble, dying, sinful 
creatures, share in their glory and happiness? ‘This is a 
most interesting inquiry, and I would have you think of it 
with trembling anxiety; and I shall presently answer it in 
its place. 

The prospect would be delightful, if our charity could 
hope that this will be the happy end of all the sons of men. 
But, alas! multitudes, and we have reason to fear the far 
greater number, shall come forth, not to the resurrection of 
life, but to the resurrection of damnation! what terror is 
in the sound! If audacious sinners in our world make light 
of it, and pray for it on every trifling occasion, their infer- 
nal brethren, that feel its tremendous import, are not so 
hardy, but tremble and groan, and can trifle with it no 
more. 

Let us realize the miserable doom of this class of man- 
kind. See them bursting into life from their subterranean 
dungeons, hideous shapes of deformity and terror, expres- 
sive of the vindictive design for which their bodies are 
repaired, and of the boisterous and malignant passions that 
ravage their souls. Horror throbs through every vein, and 
glares wild and furious in their eyes. Every joint trembles, 
and every countenance looks downcast and gloomy. Now 
they see that tremendous day of which they were warned in 
vain, and shudder at those terrors of which they once made 
light. They immediately know the grand business of the 
day, and the dreadful purpose for which they are roused 
from their slumbers in the grave; to be tried, to be con- 
victed, to be condemned, and to be dragged away to execu- 
tion. Conscience has been anticipating the trial in a sepa- 
rate state; and no sooner is the soul united to the body, than 


7 





250 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


immediately conscience ascends its throne in the breast, and 
begins to accuse, to convict, to pass sentence, to upbraid, 
and to torment. [he sinner is condemned, condemned at 
his own tribunal, before he arrives at the bar of his Judge. 
The first act of consciousness in his new state of existence 
is a conviction that he is condemned, an irrevocably con- 
demned creature. He enters the court, knowing before- 
hand how it will go with him. When he finds himself 
ordered to the left hand of his Judge, when he hears the 
dreadful sentence thundered out against him, ‘depart from 
me, accursed,” it was but what he expected. Now he can 
flatter himself with vain hopes, and shut his eyes against 
the light of conviction, but then he will not be able to hope 
better; then he must know the worst of his case. The for- 
mality of the judicial trial is necessary for the conviction 
of the world, but not for his; his own conscience has al- 
ready determined his condition. However, to convince 
others of the justice of his doom, he is dragged and guarded 
from his grave to the judgment-seat by fierce, unrelenting 
devils, now his tempters, but then his tormentors. With 
what horror does he view the burning throne and the 
frowning face of his Judge, that Jesus whom he once dis- 
regarded, in spite of all his dying love and the salvation he 
offered! How does he wish for a covering of rocks and 
mountains to conceal him from his angry eye! but all in vain. 
Appear he must. He is ordered to the left among the 
trembling criminals; and now the trial comes on. All his 
evil deeds and all his omissions of duty, are now produced 
against him. All the mercies he abused, all the chastise- 
ments he despised, all the means of grace he neglected or 
misimproved, every sinful, and even every idle word, nay 
his most secret thoughts and dispositions, are all exposed, 
and brought into judgment against him. And when the 








THE GENERAL RESURRECTION 251 


Judge puts it to him, “Is it not so, sinner! Are not these 
charges true?’ conscience obliges him to confess and cry 
out, Guilty! guilty! And now the trembling criminal being 
plainly convicted and left without all plea and all excuse, the 
supreme Judge, in stern majesty and inexorable justice, 
thunders out the dreadful sentence, ‘“Depart from me, ye 
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his 
angels.’’ O tremendous doom! every word is big with ter- 
ror, and shoots a thunderbolt through the heart. ‘‘Depart: 
away from my presence; I cannot bear so loathsome a sight. 
I once invited thee to come to me, that thou mightest have 
life, but thou wouldst not regard the invitation; and now 
thou shalt never hear that inviting voice more. Depart 
from me, the only Fountain of happiness, the only proper 
Good for an immortal mind.” “But, Lord,” (we may sup- 
pose the criminal to say) “if I must depart, bless me before 
moo... No, says the angry Judge, “depart accursed; 
depart with my eternal and heavy curse upon thee; the 
curse of that power that made thee; a curse dreadfully 
eficacious, that blasts whatever it falls upon like flashes 
of consuming irresistible lightning.” ‘But if I must go 
away under thy curse, (the criminal may be supposed to 
say) yet that be all my punishment; let me depart to some 
agreeable, or at least tolerable recess, where I may meet 
with something to mitigate the curse.’’ ‘No, depart into 
fire; there burn in all the excruciating tortures of that out- 
rageous element.” “But, Lord, if I must make my bed in 
fire, O let it be a transient blaze, that will soon burn itself 
out, and put an end to my torment.’ ‘‘No, depart into 
everlasting fire; there burn without consuming, and be tor- 
mented without end.” “But, Lord, grant me (cries the 
poor wretch) at least the mitigation of friendly, enter- 
taining, and sympathising company; or, if this cannot be 





252 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





granted, grant me this small, this almost no request, to be 
doomed to some solitary corner in hell, where I shall be 
punished only by my own conscience and thine immediate 
hand; but O deliver me from these malicious, tormenting 
devils; banish me into some apartment in the infernal pit 
far from their society.” ‘No, depart into everlasting fire 
prepared for the devil and his angels: thou must make one 
of their wretched crew forever; thou didst join with them 
in sinning, and now must share in their punishment: thou 
didst submit to them as thy tempters, and now thou must 
submit to them as thy tormentors.”’ 

Sentence being pronounced, it is immediately executed. 
‘“These shall go away into everlasting punishment.” Devils 
drag them away to the pit, and push them down headlong. 
There they are confined in chains of darkness, and in a lake 
burning with fire and brimstone, for ever, for ever! In that 
dreadful word lies the emphasis of torment; it is a hell in 
hell. If they might be but released from pain, though it 
were by annihilation after they have wept away ten thou- 
sand millions of ages in extremity of pain, it would be some 
mitigation, some encouragement; but, alas! when as many 
millions of ages are passed as the stars of heaven, or the 
sands of the sea-shore, or the atoms of dust in this huge 
globe of earth, their punishment is as far from an end as 
when the sentence was pronounced upon them. For ever! 
there is no exhausting of that word; and when it is affixed to 
the highest degree of misery, the terror of the sound is 
utterly insupportable. See, sirs, what depends upon time, 
that span of time we may enjoy in this fleeting life. Eter- 
nty! awful, all-important eternity, depends upon it. 

All this while conscience tears the sinner’s heart with 
the most tormenting reflections. ‘‘O what a fair oppor- 
tunity I once had for salvation, had I improved it! I was 


é 
of 








THE GENERAL RESURRECTION 253 


warned of the consequences of a life of sin and carelessness; 
I was told of the necessity of faith, repentance, and univer- 
sal holiness of heart and life; I enjoyed a sufficient space for 
repentance, and all the necessary means of salvation, but, 
fool that I was, I neglected all, I abused all; I refused to 
part with my sins; I refused to engage seriously in religion, 
and to seek God inh earnest; and now I am lost forever, 
without hope. O! for one of those months, one of those 
weeks, or even so much as one of those days or hours I once 
trifled away; with what earnestness, with what solicitude 
would I improve it! But all my opportunities are past, be- 
yond recovery, and not a moment shall be given me for this 
purpose any more. O what a fool was I to sell my soul 
for such trifles! to set so light by heaven, and to fall into 
hell through mere neglect and carelessness!’ Ye impeni- 
tent, unthinking sinners, though you may now be able to 
silence or drown the clamors of your consciences, yet the 
time, or rather the dread eternity is coming, when they will 
speak in spite of you; when they will speak home, and be 
felt by the most hardened and remorseless heart. ‘There- 
fore now regard their warnings while they may be the means 
of your recovery. 

You and I, my brethren, are concerned in the solemn 
transaction of the day I have been describing. You and I 
shall either be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an 
eye, or while mouldering “‘in the grave, we shall hear the 
voice of the Son of God, and come forth, either to the re- 
surrection of life, or to the resurrection of damnation.”’ 
And which, my brethren, shall be our doom? And now 
who is for life, and who for damnation among you? These 
characters are intended to make the distinction among you, 
and I pray you apply them for that purpose. 

As for such of you, who, amidst all your lamented in- 





254 | GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


firmities, are endeavouring honestly to do good, and grieved 
at heart that you can do no more, you must also die; you 
must die, and feed the worms in the dust. But you shall 
rise gloriously improved, rise to an immortal life, and in all 
the terrors and consternation of that last day, you will be 
secure, serene, and undisturbed. The almighty Judge will 
be your friend, and that is enough. Let this thought disarm 
the king of terrors, and give you courage to look down into 
the grave, and forward to the great rising day. O what a 
happy immortality opens its glorious prospects beyond the 
ken of sight before you! and after a few struggles more in 
this state of warfare, and resting awhile in the bed of 
death, at the regions of eternal blessedness you will arrive, 
and take up your residence there forever. 

But are there not some here who are conscious that these 
favorable characters do not belong to them? ‘That know 
that well-doing is not the business of their life, but that they 
are workers of iniquity? I tell you plainly, and with all the 
authority the word of God can give, that if you continue 
such, you shall rise to damnation. That undoubtedly will 
be your doom, unless you are greatly changed and reformed 
in heart and life. And will this be no excitement to vigor- 
ous endeavours? Are you proof against the energy of such 
a consideration? Ye careless sinners, awake out of your 
security, and prepare for death and judgment! This fleet- 
ing life is all the time you have for preparation, and can 
you trifle it away? Your all, your eternal all is set upon the 
single cast of life, and you must stand the hazard of the die. 
You can make but one experiment, and if that fail, through 
your sloth or mismanagement, you are irrecoverably undone 
forever. Therefore, by the dread authority of the great 
God, by the terrors of death, and the great rising day, by 
the joys of heaven, and the torments of hell, and by the 





THE GENERAL RESURRECTION 255 


value of your immortal souls, I intreat, I charge, I adjure 
you to awake out of your security, and improve the pre- 
cious moments of life. he world is dying all around you. 
And can you rest easy in such a world, while unprepared 
for eternity? Awake to righteousness now, at the gentle 
call of the gospel, before the last trumpet give you an alarm 
of another kind. 


Le igy 


yee ; 
i, “gf 





Glorious Displays of 
Gospel Grace 





ROWLAND HILL 


OWLAND HILL was born on August 12, 1744, at 

Hawkeston, and died on April 11, 1833. He was the 
son of Sir Robert Hill. At Cambridge he came under the 
influence of Whitefield and became, like Whitefield, a great 
open-air preacher. He built with his own money Surrey 
Chapel in London and was heard by great throngs in his 
church and on his itinerating tours through the country. 
He left behind him an impression of great natural elo- 
quence. Sheridan said of him: “I hear Rowland Hill be- 
cause his ideas come hot from the heart; and Robert Hall: 
“No man has ever drawn, since the days of our Saviour, 


’ 


such sublime images from Nature.” “There are many anec- 
dotes of his wit, which sometimes verged on buffoonery. 
He gave free rein to the feeling of the moment and some- 
times offended against good taste. On a wet day, a number 
of persons took shelter in his chapel during a heavy shower 
while he was in the pulpit. Seeing them come in, Hill said: 
“Many people are greatly blamed for making their religion 
a cloak, but I do not think those are much better who make 
it an umbrella.” When asked once why he did not preach] 
to the elect, he said from the pulpit: “I don’t know them, | 
or I would preach to them. Have the goodness to mark 
them with a piece of chalk and then I’ll talk to them.” ag 
In his sermon on the Displays of Gospel Grace, Rowland 
Hill, after paying tribute to the mighty works done by 
Whitefield, challenges the formal and literary preachers to 
produce a like effect, saying: “Let us try how some of these 
rationalists in religion (as they humbly wish to be thought) 
would be likely to succeed on a similar occasion. Let them 
seek for some other colliery of the like description; there, 
take one of their nicely composed paper-popguns and read 


Wey | 


a 





258 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


it among the multitude. I would willingly and gladly 
carry their stool behind them, to see what sort of figures 
they would cut, in their attempts to reform. I hate such 
silly pride, and it is best corrected by the lash of ridicule 
and contempt.” 


Glorious Displays of Gospel Grace 


“This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the 
world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the 


end come” (Matt. 24:14). 


F ever my mind felt the solemn weight of those words of 
the good old Patriarch, ‘Surely this is none other but 
the house of God and the gate of heaven,” it is on this 

present occasion. Can we suppose that so many of God’s 
ministers and people should find it in their hearts to assem- 
ble together on such a glorious design, and He not be pres- 
ent with them? O surely not! we believe Him to be in the 
midst of us. Nor can anything short of His special pres- 
ence crown our labours with success. What a mercy then 
that we live in a day in which the Lord’s promise is, we hope, 
to be remarkably verified, “Behold, I am with you always, 
even to the end of the world.” 

Matters of salvation are of infinite importance. The 
glory of bringing souls to Christ is the greatest honour God 
can confer upon us. ‘The salvation of one soul is of more 
worth than a thousand worlds. My dearest brethren in the 
ministry, may God fill us with the like ardent desires to 
those which warmed the Apostle’s heart, when he was con- 
strained to declare to his Galatian hearers that ‘‘he tra- 
vailed in birth again till Christ was formed in them.”’ And 
while you thus assemble upon the business of sending the 
Gospel to heathen nations, may you on your departure, be- 
loved brethren, from this our British Jerusalem, be so filled 
with the spirit and power from above, as that you may be a 
thousand times more successful, not only in promoting good 
among those whom you are more immediately concerned 


259 








260 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


to serve in the ministry of the word, but also for the conver- 
sion of the poor heathen in your neighbourhood; for O, 
what crowds of heathens, and worse than heathens, though 
under the Christian name, are everywhere to be found 
amongst us! And why may we not expect that such a fire 
shall now be kindled as that not only wonders be done 
among the nations that know not God, but that even in our 
own land it shall be our portion also to be indulged with a 
remarkable revival of the power of religion, ‘‘a time of re- 
freshing from the presence of the Lord.” 

What littleness and insignificance are stampt upon all 
the things of time and sense, when compared to such bless- 
ings as these! what avail the things that are temporal in 
comparison of those that are eternal? MHlere are glories 
that words can never reach, nor tongue express, and I won- 
der not at the sensations of one happy mind, who, though 
quite in the agonies of dissolving nature, and beyond the 
power of giving an intelligible answer to any question asked, 
yet, with a hope full of immortality though in the jaws of 
death, felt such blessedness upon his mind as constrained 
him to lift up his arms in triumph, and with a very heaven 
on his countenance thrice to repeat, ‘‘O the glories! O the 
glories! O the glories !”’ 

Now to be made the happy instruments of conveying so 
much felicity, in such solemn circumstances as this dying 
man felt, what an honour! While we live, may God fill our 
hearts with these surprising glories; that they may be our 
cordial in our departing moments; and may divine mercy 
teach a world of sinners to seek the fame! 

We shall not then blush at what the world calls the ir- 
regularity of our conduct. When an apostolic warmth of 
zeal shall make every minister a missionary around his own 
neighbourhood, and when, touched with the sacred tender- 





GLoRiIoUus DispLAYs OF GOSPEL GRACE 261 





ness of Christian compassion, he can never be contented 
while on earth to leave a single sinner within his reach un- 
converted to God. 

A poor sinner in her dying moments, requesting that a 
despised servant of Jesus Christ might visit her before her 
departure, heard someone ridicule her choice, that she 
should call in one of such a methodistical character, a com- 
mon street-preacher and field-preacher; roused with zeal 
and gratitude to God for the instrument of her conversion, 
she said to those who stood around her, ‘‘Let who will de- 
spise him, I will thank him before men and angels that he 
went out into the streets and lanes of our city to bring my 
lost, wandering soul to God.” I drop the hint to encour- 
age you, my brethren in the blessed work of field preaching, 
that we may be instant in season and out of season, and do 
the work of an evangelist. But | am now to follow the plan 
designed from the text, Lord help me! ‘The word before 
us gives us to understand that as wonders have in former 
ages been done by the Gospel, so in future still greater glor- 
ies shall be accomplished. Nor in our day “‘is the Lord’s 
arm shortened that it cannot save, or his ear waxed dull, 
that it cannot hear.’’ Nay, the longer we live, the mani- 
festation of still greater glories ought to be expected; for 
the time is still to come when the “knowledge of God,” as 
says the voice of prophecy, “‘shall cover the earth as the 
waters do the sea:”’ yea, ‘“‘the kingdoms of the earth shall 
become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ: while 
saints and angels wait with holy impatience, were it possible, 
to rend the vault of Heaven at the arrival of the time when 
that song, more universally than ever, shall be sung, ‘‘Hal- 
lelujah! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth: King of 
kings and Lord of lords!” 

I mean not merely to shew that the Gospel of the king- 








262 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


dom was preached in all ages since the fall of man, but more 
especially to note the out-pourings of the spirit in different 
ages, under the divine manifestation of mercy to mankind, 
that our hearts may be enlarged and our hopes quickened 
on this present occasion. 

No sooner had our first parents brought sin into the 
world by their transgression, and scarcely had divine jus- 
tice pronounced the curse, when sovereign mercy dropped 
the gracious promise, “the seed of the woman shall bruise 
the serpent’s head:” thus was the Gospel first preached in 
Paradise itself; they, to whom it was preached, we trust, 
lived upon the promise given and looked with long expecta- 
tion after it; they even seemed to conclude they had ob- 
tained the accomplishment when Eve, upon the birth of her 
first son, to render the passage more literally, cried, “I have 
gotten a man, the Lord.”’ 

This we may call the first spring of mercy to fallen man; 
but we find it awfully limited to a narrow channel through- 
out the antediluvian world; while such floods of iniquity 
overspread the face of the earth that God himself is de- 
scribed as “‘repenting that he had made man,” yea, as being 
on this account “grieved at his heart.” In the family of 
Noah alone was the knowledge and fear of God preserved. 

But now the stream that began to flow from the most 
early period of time gradually increases and continues upon 
the increase like a spreading river, till its wide extended cur- 
rents open themselves into the bosom of the ocean. 

God separated Abraham and his family early for that 
purpose. The faith of the renowned patriarch was strong 
and clear, respecting the person and glories of Christ. Faith 
is a long-sighted grace, for, notwithstanding the distance of 
time, ‘‘he repoiced to see Christ’s day, he saw it and was 
glad.” Paul declares that the same faith which justified 





GLORIOUS DISPLAYS OF GOSPEL GRACE 263 


Abraham justifies believers in Jesus in all ages; that the 
blessings of the same salvation are to be imparted to us 
also, if blessed with the same faith that dwelt in him, who 
is the father of the faithful. And indeed, all the great 
works done by the worthies of old are described in the 
eleventh of Hebrews as done by faith in the Lord Jesus, 
which alone rendered them acceptable in the sight of God, 
for “without faith it is impossible to please Him.” 

We next notice other revivals that succeeded: Caleb the 
son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun stand highly 
recorded in sacred writ. “Though sin kept the generation 
of their contemporaries from the promised land—they 
rotted through unbelief in the wilderness—yet nothing 
could affect the lives of these men of renown, or prevent 
them from possessing their desired Canaan. Great was the 
revival of religion in their days and much good was done 
by their instrumentality. God was eminently with them and 
they acknowledged him in all their ways. No Canaanitish 
foe could prevent their glorious progress, they were con- 
querors, yea more than conquerors, because they believed 
on their God. And cannot God give the like precious faith 
in the present undertaking? When God says, “Let there be 
light,” is it in the power of all hell to create darkness? 
When He says, “Arise, shine,” shall not Omnipotence 
prevail? We triumph while we believe in God. “If God 
be for us, who can be against us?” 

Once my mind had its doubts respecting a mission to 
the heathen. Unbelief said there were a thousand difficul- 
ties in the way. I thank God that my soul was made to 
blush when that text was brought to my recollection, ‘“‘God 
is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” 
Now what is so inanimate as a stone? Had the metaphor 
been taken from trees, or any other part of the vegetable 





264 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


creation, there we might have discovered the existence at 
least of vegetable life; but what power can command stones 
to live but the power of the living God? 

Time would fail us to trace the like divine displays of 
grace, through the regency of Samuel and the first part of 
the reign of Saul, and the increasing glories which rested on 
the church of God while the sceptre was entrusted in 
David’s hands. We hasten to the time of Solomon. Then 
the reflected light givén through that dispensation shone 
with its fullest splendour, but, like the shining of the moon 
which gradually withdraws her humble light till she totally 
disappears and hides herself behind the sun, so we shall — 
find that these gracious revivals gradually declined, till Jesus 
the Sun of Righteousness arose, creating the Gospel day of 
grace and adorning it with all the glories of his great salva- 
tion. 

Solomon’s reign was filled with wonders. We trace, 
however, but the more pure and chaste part of his history, 
while the Lord was truly with him. 

He began his reign with divine communications with his 
God, and while he maintained communion with Him he 
prospered; his noblest wish was to build the temple. It 
was during that period that the heart of this prince was 
fully devoted to the Lord; his wisdom, his riches, and his 
honours were entirely dedicated to promote the glory of his — 
God; with zeal he completes the work which God had given 
him to perform. And now the temple is to be dedicated to 
Him for whose service it was built. And O what a day is 
this, when all Israel appears before the Lord like a multi- 
tude which no man could number. The king himself leads 
the devotions of his people and God miraculously declares 
his approbation of the solemn work, while flakes of holy fire 
descend on the sacrifice already prepared for the divine serv- 





GLORIOUS DISPLAYS OF GOSPEL GRACE 265 


ice, and the glory of God fills all the temple and constrains 
the people to rejoice with reverence and godly fear. 

And can we suppose that a mere outward and visible 
manifestation of the glory of God was all that the great 

_ majesty of heaven designed hereby? O surely no! He that 
is as a refiner’s fire to the hearts of His people was now 
doubtless working upon their hearts also, by His invisible 
agency, that He might prepare them for Himself and then 
take them to His glory. In short, does not this appear as 
the great Pentecost of the Old Testament church, similar in 
its nature and effects to that recorded in the New Testa- 
ment, when cloven tongues of fire rested upon the heads of 
the Apostles, a visible sign of their preparation for their 
important ministry, that through their instrumentality great 
grace might rest upon the hearts of thousands, to prepare 
them for glory? 

And O! what views further open to our minds, when we 
meditate on the multitudes of glorified spirits already 
brought to God under these different out-pourings of the 
spirit of grace; they are long ago safely landed, and are 
waiting with holy joy for those that are now coming, and 
for others that shall yet come, till God shall have accom- 
plished the number of His elect and finished His great work 
of the salvation of millions of mankind. 

And now a long night ensues. Through a space of near 
seven hundred years we read in the inspired records (ex- 
cepting what is referred to in the Forty-Fourth Psalm and 
some other places) but of one revival of the power of the 
glorious faithfulness of the Jewish church in days of dread- 
ful persecution of religion, and that was under the govern- 
ment of Ezra and Nehemiah on the return of Israel from 
their Babylonish captivity. Let us a little investigate the 
glories of that revival. ‘The people had polluted themselves 


2. 





266 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


by their unlawful connections while captives in an heathen 
land, and even after their return from the captivity. These 
by the command of God were to be renounced, and yet 
what dearer to nature than the wife of a man’s bosom? But 
Ezra, the holy reformer, was at a point with the people: the 
command was explicit; wives taken unlawfully are now to be 
rejected, and they yield obedience to what nature would 
call this severe injunction of the Lord. 

Whatever may be dear to us, may our Lord and God be 
dearer still! yea, dearer and dearer day by day! and O that 
Christ may find out for us, on this present work, those that 
can forsake houses, lands, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, 
and all for His dear sake! and why should any refuse to 
forsake such low things as these for Him, who forsook His 
heaven, His glory, and hid not His face from shame and 
spitting, and at last laid down His life to ransom us from 
the hell that sin most righteously deserves, that He might 
make us partakers with Himself of blessedness in eternal 
glory? I will make a few observations further on this last 
revival of religion before the coming of our Lord. ‘The 
word of God was again brought forth into public notice. 
Ezra the scribe stands on a pulpit of wood, from the sun 
rising till the noon-day; for six hours at one time, he reads 
and expounds the word of God, assisted by twelve others of 
the princes of Israel, six of them standing on the one side 
and six of them on the other; for “‘they read in the book the 
law of God distinctly; and gave the sense, and caused them 
to understand the reading.’ Nor were they tired with the 
length of the sermon; no, a weeping congregation will not 
speedily be weaned of the word of God, and it was a strong 
evidence on their behalf that God was with them of a truth, 
that their hearts were melted before the Lord and their 
eyes were a fountain of tears. 





GLorious DIsPLAYS OF GOSPEL GRACE 267 


O what a refreshing sight would it be to us, my brethren, 
if such were the state of our congregations to manifest such 
tenderness of heart and such readiness at once to obey all 
that they hear from the sacred word of truth! sure I am 
that no sight is so glorious as the presence of God upon a 
worshipping congregation; nor anything so animating to 
the heart of a minister as when he perceives that the word 
he preaches comes to the hearts of the hearers, with “the 
demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” 

After this period till the coming of Christ a gross dark- 
ness for the most part covered the earth, religion seemed 
sunk into formality, while the institutions of God at the 
same time were wretchedly blended with the inventions of 
men. 

The spirit of prophecy was now totally withdrawn; no 
zealous reformers made their appearance, nor were any in- 
dications given of the people lamenting over their deserted 
state or longing for the returning mercies of the Lord. 

It is observed that the darkest moment in all the night is 
the moment which precedes the first break of day; and 
blessed be God, we are now to contemplate the glories of 
that bright day, created by the presence of Him who is “‘the 
brightness of His Father’s glory, and the express image of 
His Person.”’ 

But there is somewhat in the progress of this light which 
demands our attention. We find some wonderful stirrings 
of conscience (and it is well when God sets conscience at 
work) under the preaching of John the Baptist. Plain was 
his appearance, but powerful was his word: his business was 
to “prepare the way of the Lord.” If, however, his word 
seemed to have but a transient effect upon the minds of his 
hearers, one could not but suppose that when the Son of 
God commenced a preacher, wonders indeed would be 





268 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


wrought and that not a hearer could resist when the incar- 
nate Jehovah delivered His own word. But what was 
accomplished by the preaching of our Lord? His word 
was indeed with authority and His astonished hearers were 
constrained to acknowledge ‘‘Never man spake like this 
man.’ But notwithstanding all this, and though He was 
obliged to take the mountains for His pulpit, though He 
went about from village to village and from city to city to 
preach the Gospel of the kingdom, we find no more after 
the crucifixion than a hundred and twenty souls, collected 
together in an upper room for fear of the Jews. Where 
were the thousands that attended the ministry of the Bap- 
tist? Where were the multitudes that attended our Lord 
and were fed by His miracles? ‘The glorious power was ~ 
not yet revealed that effectually does the work. ‘‘The 
Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glori- 
fied.’ He must first “put away sin by the sacrifice of Him- 
self.”’ It was not meet that the blessing should be vouch- 
safed till the curse was removed, but when once the great 
work was finished, when Jesus had ascended into His 
heavenly kingdom, according to the glorious word, “Lift up 
your heads O ye gates, and be ye lift up ye everlasting 
doors, and the King of glory shall come in;’’ when He had 
finished His conquests and had “ascended up on high, lead- 
ing even captivity captive,’ then came the blessed time when 
He would “‘give His gifts to men, even the rebellious, and 
come and dwell amongst them.’”’ ‘Thus, having prepared the 
mansions for His people, He next sends down His Spirit to 
prepare His people for those mansions. O the glories of 
that sacred day! ‘Behold, now indeed, the tabernacle of 
God is with man!”’ According to our Lord’s direction, the 
disciples waited at Jerusalem for the fulfilment of His 
promise, and lo! He comes, their understandings are en- 


} 


ik 





GLoRIOUS DISPLAYS OF GOSPEL GRACE 269 


lightened, to understand the Scriptures: their hearts are 
inflamed and they preach the word with faithfulness and 
power; before neither the thunders of John, preaching in 
the wilderness, nor yet the words of grace that dropped 
from the lips of Jesus Christ Himself, could effectually im- 
press the minds almost of any; but how the preaching of a 
poor set of illiterate fishermen melts the adamantine hearts 
of the murderers of Christ and brings them by thousands to 
submit to His righteous and merciful sceptre. On the very 
first day after the day of Pentecost was fully come, we hear 
of three thousand; at another time, we hear the numbers 
increased to five thousand; then again, that ‘‘believers were 
added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women;”’ 
and further, ‘‘the number of disciples multiplied greatly; 
and, what was the greatest wonder of all wonders, that ‘‘a 
great multitude of the priests were obedient to the faith.” 
Yea, we hear of whole villages, towns, cities, countries, 
which at once were subjugated to the Lord Jesus, ‘‘so 
mightily grew the word of God and prevailed;” now was 
the time that ‘‘a nation should be born at once, and as soon 
as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” O the 
power that then went with the word! ‘Those that heard 
were at once pricked to the heart: their cry directly was, 
“What must I do to be saved?” and the answer, as directly 
given, was “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
shalt be saved.’ How must the decency, as we suppose, of 
religious worship have been interrupted thereby, but O 
blessed interruption, when God Himself wrought so glo- 
riously and so many souls were brought into divine sub- 
jection to the cross of Christ! May God send us such 
blessed interruptions in all our congregations! O they are 
glorious! 

It may be asked what became of the multitudes that 


270 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


attended the ministry of our Lord and His harbinger John? 
It strikes me that many of those had now their convictions 
revived, and were found among the happy thousands who 
received the Gospel dispensation. ‘The seed was first sown 
by John, and by our glorious Lord, and afterwards being 
watered by the descent of the Holy Ghost sprung up to the 
glory of God. What encouragement this to every sincere 
minister to be diligent in his work! Secret convictions may 
a long time abide in the heart before a thorough conversion 
to God is effected. “Cast thy bread upon the waters, and 
thou shalt find it after many days.’’ We shall reap if we 
faint not. 

Oftentimes, when I have been engaged in preaching, and 
perhaps in the contemptible work of street preaching too, 
when I have thought that the whole town was dead in tres- 
passes and sins, some few secret ones have been found, 
allow the plain expression, and I left them like nest eggs. 
I visited them again and the numbers soon increased, till the 
little one became a thousand. 

But what remarkable evidence is given by all these re- | 
vivals that the work in which we are engaged is, indeed, 
the work of God; “not by might, nor by power, but by my 
Spirit, saith the Lord;” for what was the doctrine especially 
in the great revival on the day of Pentecost? ‘The plain 
simple preaching of the cross of Christ. And who were 
the instruments? A set of plain illiterate fishermen. Better 
a thousand times to have the simplicity of a Peter than the 
eloquence of a Longinus, if we are but made useful to the 
souls of our fellow creatures. ‘That preaching is always 
the best that best answers the end of preaching. Let us, 
therefore, go forth preaching, as it is worded in the text, 
‘the gospel of the kingdom,” and that too with simplicity 
and godly sincerity, and not with fleshly wisdom, and what 


‘\ : 





GLorRIoUsS DIsPLAYS OF GOSPEL GRACE 271 


has been done shall be done. God will ever stand by His 
own truth and if He be for us, who can be against us? 
Preaching the Gospel of the kinedom does all the work. I 
hate the pride of such as would iain attempt to set aside this 
glorious dispensation and are ever attempting to establish 
what they call the powers of reason in its stead and are ever 
boasting of the mighty things that it can effect. Had they, 
however, a little more of the same faculty they pretend so 
plentifully to possess, they would not expose themselves by 
such assertions, for what can reason do, while under the 
influence of corrupted nature? Nay, say they, it is passion 
and appetite, not reason, that then govern the man; but if 
passion and appetite prevail over the human understand- 
ing, so that good is avoided as an evil and evil sought after 
as a good, and these furnish our reasoning powers with their 
materials, we may easily conclude what will be the conduct 
and the choice; nay, say they, shall it be said that a drunk- 
ard acts according to reason? Certainly not; but he acts ac- 
cording to his reason; and does a man in a violent passion 
act according to reason? According to that which he at 
that instant of time calls reason, he certainly does. And 
both the drunkard and the passionate man will give you a 
thousand reasons, as they call them, for their conduct; and, 
however badly they reason, it is reason to them; and how- 
ever wrongly they may be guided, yet their reason was their 
guide; and it is not likely that a wrong guide will lead a 
man right. In short, every man’s reason directs him to seek 
after happiness, and while the carnal mind supposes there 
is happiness to be had in the indulgence of lust and passion, 
reason will lead that road. In short, sound reason can 
never be engrafted but upon real religion. 

The fact proves itself. Where are the converts of these 
boasted rational preachers? AQ fig for all their pretensions 


BD GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


to wisdom if they cannot produce one single sample of a 
precious soul being converted from sin to God thereby. 

I bring forward the character of the great Mr. White- 
field on this occasion. I hope you do not blush for me that I 
mention his name on this subject, for verily I shall not blush 
for myself. God gave him a most enlarged mind, liberated 
him from all the wretched trammels of education.. He 
knew no party, his glory was to preach the Gospel to every 
creature; bigotry his soul abhorred; and like a second Sam- 
son, he has so made her main supporting pillars to totter 
that you and I, my brethren, rejoice that she trembles to the 
very foundation, and live in daily hopes that her complete 
destruction shall complete our joy. 

Now I will not say, I thank the devil for anything but 
I will say, I thank God for that permissive providence 
whereby that great man, being turned out of the churches, 
esteemed it his duty to preach at large. His first attempt 
was among the poor Kingswood colliers. I defy any mis- 
sionary upon earth to find a darker spot or to visit a more 
benighted people. These he called out of the holes and 
dens of the earth and to these he preached “repentance 
towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.” 
And OQ, it was a lovely sight to behold the glorious effect? 
Eyes unaccustomed to weep before now began to flow with 
the tears of repentance unto life, white streaks appearing 
thereby on their black faces, now turned up towards heaven, 
praying for mercy and forgiveness; knees unaccustomed to 
prayer before are now bended down in fervent devotion 
before God; and their lives well and wisely regulated by 
the power of that grace which had done such wonders on 
their hearts. Now mind what these fastidious sons of 
pride and self-conceit had to say on this occasion: To be 
sure, Whitefield has done good among these low sort of 


= - 


ntiglined 
7% 








Gtorious DisPpLAYs OF GOSPEL GRACE 273 


people. Now we cannot thank them for their compliment, 
as it is given with such a wretched ill grace; but a higher 
panegyric cannot be framed. We generally suppose he is 
the best physician that cures the most desperate diseases. 
And we should also suppose that he is the best minister, 
notwithstanding the convenient terms of methodist and 
enthusiast, that cures the diseases of the mind in its most 
desperate state. 

Let us try how some of these rationalists in religion (as 
they humbly wish to be thought) would be likely to succeed 
on a similar occasion. Let them seek for some other col- 
liery of the like description; there take one of their nicely 
composed paper-popguns and read it among the multitude. 
I would willingly and gladly carry the stool behind them, to 
see what sort of figures they would cut, in their attempts to 
reform. I hate such silly pride, and it is best corrected by 
the lash of ridicule and contempt. 

But a part of our plan is yet to be considered. ‘To trace 
what has been done since the apostles’ days time would by 
no means allow; and successes of a later date have already 
been well presented before you. We have now to encourage 
ourselves from the promises and prophecies of the word of 
God, of the glory that shall be revealed. The text itself 
gives blessed encouragement to our expectations, the “‘Gos- 
pel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a 
witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.’ And 
what may we not yet hope for, when the Lord Himself has 
said to His well-beloved Son, ‘“‘Ask of Me, and I will give 
Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost 
parts of the earth for Thy possession.” 

Our design is all the same: no matter for the name of 
the boat that ferries over the poor benighted sinner into the 
land of Gospel light and liberty, provided the blessed work 





274 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


be but accomplished. I hate bigotry with my soul, and 
while so many Gospel ministers of different denominations 
assemble together for the same purpose [I still hope to live 
to see it subsist no more, to divide the Christian from the 
Christian; while each of us serves God in his own line, why 
cannot we love as brethren? 


‘Let names and sects and parties fall, 


And Jesus Christ be all in all.” 


I confess, in the simplicity of my heart, that some ex- 
pressions have dropped from my lips which I never designed 
on this very solemn occasion. I am sure your patience 
and candour will instruct you to forgive, but we must be 
serious, serious indeed, while we conclude with some re- 
marks on what ought to be the character of the missionaries 
themselves. 

And what manner of persons should these indeed be, 
in all holy conversation and godliness! How full of that 
heavenly-mindedness and spiritual-mindedness which shall 
raise them so far above the world as though they had 
scarce an existence in it! What a holy, burning zeal for 
the salvation of souls! And what wisdom from above to 
conduct that zeal! What purity of knowledge to deal with 
those whose deep-rooted fondness for their ancient super- 
stitions will make them watch with a jealous eye over every 
attempt to declare among them the truth as it is in Jesus! 

Nor should their patience, meekness and child-like sim- 
plicity be less eminent than their zeal. They must win by 
love and conquer by holy perseverance. They must not be 
like some sort of missionaries who suppose they are to be 
sent a pleasant voyage at the public expense: but they must 
be men “‘that count not their lives dear unto themselves, so 





GLorRIoUS DIsPLAYS OF GOSPEL GRACE 275 


that they may finish their course with joy and the ministry 
which they have received of the Lord,” men that can be 
contented out of pure love to Christ ‘‘to stand in jeopardy 
every hour.”’ They must not only Jive like martyrs, but 
perhaps die like martyrs; we know not but the ancient 
proverb of the primitive Christians is again to be revived, 
the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. They 
must be as dead to themselvs as if they had no being. ‘Chey 
must be completely crucified with Christ. In short, ere 
they embark upon the work, they must learn to “‘leave them- 
selves behind them.’ With holy triumph they must be 
taught to say: “Farewell my dear native land, farewell to 
all the ease and happiness, and earthly indulgences I have 
enjoyed therein. Welcome affliction, necessities, distresses 
of every kind: labours, watchings, fastings, | now dread no 
more. Welcome a life now to be spent in journeyings often, 
in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by the 
heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in 
perils by the sea: yea, welcome weariness and painfulness, 
hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness; yea, welcome death 
itself, whenever the blessed Lord Himself, who died for 
me, demands that costly sacrifice at my hands.’ These are 
the men that shall be made more than conquerors, over all 
the difficulties that human prudence or unbelief would pre- 
sent before us, to impede the way. 

Human wisdom we well know would soon puzzle herself 
in the undertaking; while her little taper is brought to find 
the way through the darkness of the night, she only appears 
to add blackness and obscurity to all things beyond the 
little region her rays can reach; but when the sun shines 
forth, he spreads his light upon the most distant objects, 
and every path is plain before us. 

Some may have apprehensions that little can be done 





276 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


because miracles are wanting and the gift of tongues is 
withdrawn. Doubtless, Peter had a notable proof at hand 
of the doctrine he preached while the lame man was leaping 
in the temple who had been healed by the name of the Lord 
Jesus but just before. But miracles never cease while souls 
are converted to God; nor will tongues be ever wanting 
while the wonderful change wrought by the grace of God 
so loudly bespeaks the praises of His wonder-working 
power; let the heathens see what grace can do on a real 
convert; and we need not any further be discouraged for 
want of miracles and tongues. And that spirit of unanimity 
and zeal which has hitherto attended the work is a happy 
sign that good shall be done, while the torrent runs with 
such rapidity, for the accomplishment of so good a design. 
I would not for the world but appear on the Lord’s side, 
on this occasion. ‘Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the 
Lord; curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because 
they came not to the help of the Lord; to the help of the 
Lord against the mighty.”’ No, my brethren, the provi- 
dence of God commands that we exert ourselves for His 
glory. Difficulties there doubtless are; and an abundance 
of prayer, prudence and holy zeal will be necessary to con- 
duct the work. But God can provide all that is necessary 
to carry on His own work in His own way; and we have 
nothing to do but to follow as He condescends to lead. 
Thanks be to God for the unanimity and good will that 
have hitherto subsisted among us, and may we still be found 
steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of 
the Lord, forasmuch as we are assured that our labours 
shall not be in vain in the Lord. 


ox 


The Christian Missionary 





ROBERT HALL 


OBERT HALL was born at Arnsby, England, May 
2, 1764, and died at Bristol, February 21, 1831. 
He was educated at King’s College, Aberdeen, where his 
intimate companion was James Mackintosh, afterwards 
the celebrated philosopher. Mackintosh lamented that by 
Hall’s choosing the pulpit, speculative thought had lost 
one of its master minds. He preached for fifteen years in 
the Baptist church at Cambridge, and afterwards at 
Bristol. Through his active life he was a great sufferer 
from an affection of the spine, and much of his writing had 
to be done when lying on the floor. His noble intellect, 
too, suffered eclipse on several occasions, requiring his stay 
in an asylum. During one of these periods of mental aber- 
ration, a visitor came to the asylum and, seeing Hall, 
addressed himself to him, saying in a pompous tone, “And 
what, my dear sir, brought you here?” ‘“Something,”’ 
responded Hall, pointing to his forehead, “which will 
never bring you here!” 

Hall was an intellectual preacher of the highest order. 
His voice and pulpit manner were weak, but the order and 
sweep of his ideas held vast congregations spellbound. 
Dugald Stewart, the Scottish philosopher, described Hall 
as one who “combines the beauties of Johnson, Addison 
and Burke.” His few printed sermons were written out 
after their delivery, but the grace and elegance of the 
sermons as delivered are said to have surpassed even the 
written sermons. “The one which follows was a charge 
delivered to Eustace Carey when he went out to India 
as a missionary. It is a grand declaration of the work of 


the Christian Church in the world. 


277 





) 


af 


mat i) 








The Christian Missionary 


Sit has been usual, in the designation of a Missionary, 
A after solemnly commending him to God by prayer, 
to deliver a short address; in compliance with a 
custom, not perhaps improper, or illaudable, I shall request 
your attention to a few hints of advice, without attempting 
a regular charge, which I neither judge myself equal to, nor 
deem necessary, since on your arrival in India you will 
receive from your venerable relative, Dr. Carey, instruction 
more ample and appropriate than it is in my power to 
communicate. 

When the first Missionaries who visted these western 
parts were sent out, their designation was accompanied with 
prayer and fasting; whence we may infer that fervent 
supplication ought to form the distinguishing feature in 
the exercises appropriated to these occasions. 

An effusion of the spirit of prayer on the church of 
Christ is a surer pledge of success in the establishment of 
Missions, than the most splendid exhibitions of talent. As 
there is no engagement more entirely spiritual in its nature, 
nor whose success is more immediately dependent on God 
than that on which you are entering; to none is that spir- 
itual aid more indispensably necessary, which is chiefly 
awarded to the prayers of the faithful. 

‘Separate to me,” said the Holy Ghost to the disciples 
assembled at Antioch, “‘separate to me Barnabas and Saul, 
to the work whereunto I have called them.’’ When the 
omniscient Searcher of hearts separates a Christian minister 
from his brethren, and assigns him a distinct work, it im- 
plies the previous perception of certain qualifications for its 
successful discharge not generally possessed; for though 


279 








280 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





none can give the increase but God, much of his wisdom is 
to be traced in the selection of instruments fitted to his 
purpose. The first and most essential qualification for a 
Missionary is a decided predilection for the office; not the | 
effect of sudden impulse, but of serious, deep consideration; 
a predilection strengthened and matured by deliberately 
counting the cost. Every man has his proper calling; and 
while the greater part of Christian teachers are perfectly 
satisfied with attempting to do all the good in their power 
in their native land, there are others of a more enterprising 
character, inflamed with the holy ambition of carrying the 
glad tidings beyond the bounds of Christendom; like the 
great apostle of the Gentiles, who was determined not to 
build on another man’s foundation, but if possible to preach 
Christ in regions where his name was not known. ‘The 
circumstances which contribute to such a resolution are 
various, often too subtle and complicated to admit of a dis- 
tinct analysis: a constitutional ardour of mind, a natural 
neglect of difficulties and dangers, an impatience of being 
confined within the trammels of ordinary duties, together 
with many accidental associations and impressions, may 
combine to form a missionary spirit; nor is it so necessary 
minutely to investigate the causes which have led to a given 
determination, as the legitimacy of the object, and the 
purity of the motive. 

We adore the prolific Source of all good, in the variety 
and discrimination of his gifts, by which he imparts a 
separate character and allots a distinct sphere of operation 
to the general and essential principles which form the Chris- 
tian and the minister. ‘‘He gave some apostles, and some 
evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfect- 
ing of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the 
edifying of the body of Christ.” 





THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY 281 





The next qualification of whose necessity I must be 
allowed to remind you, is singular se/f-devotement, without 
a degree of which it is not possible to be a Christian, still 
less to any useful purpose a minister, least of all a mission- 
ary. In resolving to quit your native country, and to 
relinquish your nearest connexions, with little expectation 
of beholding them again in the flesh, you have given decisive 
indications of this spirit; nor to a mind like yours, exquis- 
itely alive to the sensibilities of nature and friendship, can 
the sacrifice you have already made be deemed inconsider- 
able. But as it is still impossible for you to conjecture the 
extent of the privations and trials to which, in the pursuit 
of your object, you may be exposed, your situation is not 
unlike that of Abraham, who, being commanded to leave 
his own country and his father’s house, went out not know- 
ing whither he went. As you are entering on an untried 
scene, where difficulties may arise to exercise your patience 
and fortitude, of which you can form but a very inadequate 
conception, you will do well to contemplate the example, 
and meditate the words of St. Paul, in circumstances not 
very dissimilar: “And now I go up bound in spirit to Jeru- 
salem, not knowing what shall befall me there, save that in 
every city the Holy Ghost witnesseth that bonds and afflic- 
tions await me: but none of these things move me; neither 
count I my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my course 
with joy, and the ministry I have received of the Lord to 
fulfill it.” 

The next qualification necessary for a teacher of Christian- 
ity among heathens, is the spirit of faith, by which I intend, 
not merely that cordial belief of the truth which is essential 
to a Christian, but that unshaken persuasion of the promises 
of God respecting the triumph and enlargement of his king- 
dom, which is sufficient to denominate its possessor strong 


r 





282 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


in faith. It is impossible that the mind of a Missionary 
should be too much impressed with the beauty, glory, and 
grandeur of the kingdom of Christ, as it is unfolded in 
the oracles of the Old and New Testament; or with the 
certainty of the final accomplishment of those oracles, 
founded on the faithfulness and omnipotence of their 
Author. To those parts of Scripture his attention should 
be especially directed, in which the Holy Ghost employs 
and exhausts, so to speak, the whole force and splendour 
of inspiration in depicting the future reign of the Messiah, 
together with that astonishing spectacle of dignity, purity, 
and peace which his church will exhibit, when, having the 
glory of God, her bounds shall be commensurate with those 
of the habitable globe; when every object on which the 
eye shall rest, shall remind the spectator of the commence- 
ment of a new age, in which the tabernacle of God is with 
men, and he dwells amongst them. His spirit should be 
imbued with that sweet and tender awe which such anticipa- 
tions will infallibly produce, whence will spring a generous 
contempt of the world, and an ardour bordering on impa- 
tience to be employed, though in the humblest sphere, as 
the instrument of accelerating such a period. For com- 
pared to this destiny in reserve for the children of men, 
compared to this glory, invisible at present, and hid behind 
the clouds which envelop this dark and troubled scene, the 
brightest day that has hitherto shone upon the world, is 
midnight, and the highest splendours that have invested it, 
the shadow of death. 

Independent of these assurances, the idea of converting 
pagan nations to the Christian faith must appear chimerical. 
The attempt to persuade them to relinquish their ancient 
mode of thinking, corroborated by habit, by example, by 
interest, and to adopt a new system of opinions and feelings, 





THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY 283 


and enter on a new course of life, will ever be deemed by 
the worldly-wise, impracticable and visionary. “Pass over 
the isles of Chittim and see,” said the Lord, by the mouth 
of Jeremiah, “‘and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, 
and see if there be such a thing. Hath a nation changed 
their gods?’ For a nation to change their gods is repre- 
sented by the highest authority as an event almost un- 
paralleled: and if it be so difficult to induce them to change 
the mode of their idolatry, how much more to persuade 
them to abandon it altogether! Idolatry is not to be looked 
upon as a mere speculative error respecting the object of 
worship, of little or no practical efficacy. Its hold upon 
the mind of a fallen creature is most tenacious, its operation 
most extensive. It is a corrupt practical institution, in- 
volving a whole system of sentiments and manners which 
perfectly moulds and transforms its votaries. It modifies 
human nature, in every aspect under which it can be con- 
templated, being intimately blended and incorporated with 
all its perceptions of good and evil, with all its infirmities, 
passions, and fears. 

As it is easy to descend from an elevation which it is 
difficult to climb, to fall from the adoration of the Supreme 
Being to the worship of idols, demands no effort. Idolatry 
is strongly intrenched in the corruptions, and fortified by 
the weakness, of human nature. Hence we find all nations 
have sunk into it in succession, frequently in opposition to 
the strongest remonstrances of inspired prophets; while we 
have no example in the history of the world, of a single city, 
family, or individual who has renounced it through the mere 
operation of unassisted reason: such is the fatal propensity 
of mankind to that enormity. It is the vail of the covering, 
cast over all flesh, which nothing but the effulgence of 
Revelation has pierced. The true religion satisfies and en- 





284 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


larges the reason, but militates against the inclinations of 
men. Resting on a few sublime truths, addressed to the 
understanding and conscience, affording few distinct images 
to the fancy, and no indulgences to the passions, it can only 
be planted and preserved by a continual efflux from its 
Divine Author, of whose spirituality and elevation it so 
largely partakes. 

Allow me to remind you of the absolute necessity of 
cultivating a mild, contiliating, affectionate temper, in the 
discharge of your office. If an uninterested spectator, after 
a careful perusal of the New Testament, were asked what 
he conceived to be its distinguishing characteristic, he would 
reply, without hesitation, that wonderful spirit of philan- 
thropy by which it is distinguished. It is a perpetual com- 
mentary on that sublime aphorism, “God is love.’ As the 
Christian religion is an exhibition of the incomprehensible 
mercy of God to a guilty race, so it is dispensed in a manner 
perfectly congenial with its nature; and the book which con- 
tains it is replete with such unaffected strokes of tenderness 
and goodness, as are to be found in no other volume. ‘The 
benign spirit of the gospel infused itself into the breast of 
its first Missionaries. In St. Paul, for example, we behold 
the most heroic resolution, the most lofty superiority to all 
the modes of intimidation and danger, a spirit which rose 
with its difficulties, and exulted in the midst of the most dis- 
maying objects; yet when we look more narrowly into his 
character, and investigate his motives, we perceive it was 
his attachment to mankind that inspired him with this in- 
trepidity, and urged him to conflicts more painful and 
arduous than the votaries of glory have ever sustained. 
Who would have supposed it possible for the same breast 
to be the seat of so much energy and so much softness? that 
he who changed the face of the world by his preaching, and 





THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY 285 


while a prisoner made his judge tremble on the tribunal, 
could stoop to embrace a fugitive slave, and to employ the 
most exquisite address to effect his reconciliation with his 
master? ‘The conversion of Onesimus afforded him a joy 
“like the joy of harvest, and as men rejoice when they 
divide the spoil.’ When the spiritual interests of mankind 
were concerned, no difficulties so formidable as to shake his 
resolution, no details so insignificant as to escape his notice. 
To the utmost inflexibility of principle, he joined the 
gentlest condescension to human infirmity, “becoming all 
things to all men, that he might win some: to the Jews he 
became a Jew, that he might gain the Jews, to them that 
were without law, as without law,” adapting on all occasions 
his modes of address to the character and disposition of 
those with whom he conversed. It was the love of Christ 
and of souls that produced and harmonized those apparent 
discordances. | 

The affectionate and conciliatory disposition we have 
been enforcing must be combined with prudence, and the 
diligent study of human nature, which you will find abso- 
lutely necessary to conduct you through intricate and un- 
beaten paths. St. Paul frequently reminds the Thessalon- 
ians of the “‘manner of his entrance” amongst them. In the 
first introduction of the gospel amongst a people, it is of 
great importance that every step be well weighed, that noth- 
ing be done which is rash, offensive, or indecorous; but every 
precaution employed, consistent with godly simplicity, to 
disarm prejudice, and conciliate respect: nor is there any 
thing in the conduct of the first ministers of the Gospel more 
to be admired than the exquisite propriety with which they 
conducted themselves in the most delicate situations. Their 
zeal was exempt from indecorum, their caution from 
timidity or art. In the commencement of every great and 


‘ 
? 





286 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


hazardous undertaking the first measures are usually de- 
Cisive, at least in those instances in which success is de- 
pendent, under God, on the voluntary cooperation of man- 
kind. A single act of imprudence is sufficient to blast the 
undertaking of a Missionary, which, in the situation of an 
ordinary minister, would scarcely be felt. “The best method 
of securing yourself from errors in this quarter, is to en- 
deavour to acquire as large a measure as possible of the 
graces of the Spirit, to be deeply imbued with the wisdom 
which is from above. Nothing subtle or refined should 
enter into the views of a Christian Missionary. Let him 
be continually elevating his principles, and purifying his 
motives; let him be clothed with humility, and actuated on 
all occasions with love to God and the souls of men, and his 
character cannot fail of being marked with a propriety and 
beauty which will ultimately command universal esteem. 
These were the only arts which a Schwartz in the east, and 
a Brainerd in the west, condescended to cultivate. 

There is much in the situation of a Missionary calcu- 
lated to keep him awake and attentive to his duties. He is 
required to explore new paths, and, leaving the footsteps 
of the flock, to go in quest of the lost sheep, on whatever 
mountain it may have wandered, or in whatever valley it 
may be hid. He must be prepared to encounter prejudice 
and error in strange and unwonted shapes, to trace the 
aberrations of reason, and the deviations from rectitude, 
through all the diversified mazes of superstition and idol- 
atry. He is engaged in a series of offensive operations; he 
is in the field of battle, wielding ‘‘weapons which are not 
carnal, but mighty, through God, to the pulling down the 
strongholds of Satan.’’ When not in action, he is yet en- 
camped in an enemy’s country, where nothing can secure 
his acquisitions, or preserve him from surprise, but inces- 





THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY 287 


sant vigilance. The voluntary exile from his native country 
to which he submits, is sufficient to remind him continually 
of his important embassy, and to induce a solicitude that so 
many sacrifices may not be made, so many privations under- 
gone, in vain. He holds the lamp of instruction to those 
who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death; and while 
there remains a particle of ignorance not expelled, a single 
prejudice not vanquished, a sinful or idolatrous custom not 
relinquished, his task is left unfinished. It is not enough 
for him, on a stated day, to address an audience on the con- 
cerns of eternity: he must teach from house to house, and 
be instant in season and out of season, embracing every 
opportunity which offers of inculcating the principles of a 
new religion, as well as of “confirming the souls of his dis- 
ciples.”’ He must consider himself as the mouth and inter- 
preter of that wisdom, “which crieth without, which utter- 
eth her voice in the streets, which crieth in the chief places 
of concourse.” 

Be strong in the grace that is in the Lord Jesus. Among 
the nations which will be the scene of your future labours, 
you will witness a state of things essentially different from 
that which prevails here, where the name of Christ is held 
in reverence, the principal doctrines of his religion specu- 
latively acknowledged, and the institutes of worship widely 
extended and diffused. The leaven of Christian piety has 
spread itself in innumerable directions, modified public opin- 
ion, improved the state of society, and given birth to many 
admirable institutions unknown to pagan countries. ‘The 
authority of the Saviour is recognized, his injunctions in 
some instances obeyed, and the outrages of impiety re- 
strained by law, by custom, and above all, by the silent 
counteraction of piety in its sincere professors. 

In India, Satan maintains an almost undisputed empire, 





288 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


and the powers of darkness, secure of their dominion, riot 
and revel at their pleasure, sporting themselves with the 
misery of their vassals, whom they incessantly agitate with 
delusive hopes and fantastic terrors, leading them captive 
at their will, while few efforts have been made to despoil 
them of their usurped authority. Partial invasions have 
been attempted, and a few captives disenthralled; but the 
strength and sinews of empire remain entire, and that dense 
and palpable darkness which invests it has scarcely felt the 
impression of a few feeble and scattered rays. In India 
you will witness the predominance of a system which pro- 
vides for the worship of gods many, and of lords many, 
while it excludes the adoration of the Supreme Being, legiti- 
mates cruelty, polygamy, and lust, debases the standard of 
morals, oppresses with ceremonies those whom it deprives 
of instruction, and suggests no solid hope of happiness be- 
yond the grave. 

You will witness with indignation that monstrous 
alliance betwixt impurity and devotion, obscenity and reli- 
gion, which characterises the popular idolatry of all na- 
tions, and which, in opposition to the palliating sophistry of 
infidels, sufficiently evinces it to be what the Scriptures 
assert—the worship of devils, not of God. 

When we consider that moral causes operate on free 
agents, we shall not be surprised to find their effects are 
less uniform than those which result from the action of ma- 
terial and physical powers, and that human minds are sus- 
ceptible of opposite impressions from the same objects. 

On such as have neither been established in the evi- 
dences, nor felt the efficacy, of revealed religion, a residence 
in a pagan country has usually a most pernicious effect, and 
matures latent irreligion into open impiety. The absence of 
Christian institutions and Christian examples leaves them at 





~< 





THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY 289 


liberty to gratify their sensual inclinations without control, 
and the familiar contemplating of pagan manners and cus- 
toms gradually wears out every trace and vestige of the 
religion in which they were educated, and imboldens them 
to consider it in the light of a local superstition. They are 
no further converts to the brahminical faith than to prefer 
it to their own; that is, they prefer the religion they can 
despise with impunity, to one that afflicts their consciences, 
that which leaves them free, to that which restrains them. 
As the secret language of their heart had always been, 
“Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from amongst us,”’ 
in the absence of God, of his institutes and his worship, they 
find a congenial element, nor are they at all displeased at 
perceiving the void filled with innumerable fantastic shapes 
and chimeras; for they contemplate religion with great com- 
posure, providing it be sufficiently ridiculous. 

You, I am persuaded will view the condition of millions 
who are involved in the shades of idolatry, originally 
formed in the image of God, now totally estranged from 
their great Parent, and reposing their trust on things which 
cannot profit, with different emotions, and will be anxious 
to recall them to the Bishop and Shepherd of their souls. 
Instead of considering the most detestable species of idol- 
atry as so many different modes of worshipping the One 
Supreme, agreeable to the jargon of infidels, you will not 
hesitate to regard them as an impious attempt to share his 
incommunicable honours; as composing that image of jeal- 
ousy which he is engaged to smite, confound, and destroy. 
When you compare the incoherence, extravagance, and 
absurdity which pervade the systems of polytheism, with the 
simple and sublime truths of the Gospel, the result will be 
an increased attachment to that mystery of godliness. 
When you observe the anxiety of the Hindoo devotee to 





290 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


obtain the pardon of sin, and the incredible labours and 
sufferings which he cheerfully undergoes to quiet the per- 
turbations of conscience, the doctrine of the cross will rise, 
if possible, still higher in your esteem, and you will long 
for an opportunity of crying in his ears, “Behold the Lamb 
of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.” When 
you witness the immolation of females on the funeral pile 
of their husbands, and the barbarous treatment of aged 
parents left by their children to perish on the banks of the 
Ganges, you will recognize the footsteps of him who was 
a murderer from the beginning, and will be impatient to 
communicate the mild and benevolent maxims of the Gospel. 
When you behold an immense population held in chains 
by that detestable institution the caste, as well as bowed 
down under an intolerable weight of brahminical supersti- 
tions, you will long to impart the liberty which Christ con- 
fers, “where there is neither Jew nor Greek, Barbarian, 
Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all.” 

In recommending the principles of Christianity to a 
pagan nation, let your instruction be in the form of a testi- 
mony: let it, with respect to the mode of exhibiting it, 
though not to the spirit of the teacher, be dogmatic. Testify 
repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus 
Christ. It might become a Socrates, who was left to the 
light of nature, to express himself with diffidence, and to 
afirm that he had spared no pains in acting up to the char- 
acter of a philosopher, in other words, a diligent inquirer 
after truth; but whether he had philosophized aright, or 
attained the object of his inquiries, he knew not, but left 
it to be ascertained in that world on which he was entering. 
In him, such indications of modest distrust were graceful 
and affecting; but would little become the disciple of revela- 
tion, or the Christian minister, who is entitled to say with 


& 


ee | 





THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY 291 





St. John, we know “that the whole world lieth in wicked- 
ness, and that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an 
understanding to know him that is true, and we are in him 
that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ.” 

After reminding them of their state as guilty and pol- 
luted creatures, which the ceremonies of their religion teach 
them to confess, exhibit to the inhabitants of Hindostan 
the cross of Christ as their only refuge. Acquaint them 
with his incarnation, his character as the Son of God and the 
Son of man, his offices, and the design of his appearance; 
not with the air of a disputer of this world, but of him who 
is conscious to himself of his possessing the medicine of life, 
the treasure of immortality, which he is anxious to impart 
to guilty men. Insist fearlessly on the futility and vanity 
of all human methods of expiation, on the impotence of 
idols, and the command of God to “all men everywhere to 
repent, inasmuch as he has appointed a day in which he will 
judge the world in righteousness.’’ Display the sufferings 
of Christ like one who was an eye witness of those suffer- 
ings, and hold up the blood, the precious blood of atone- 
ment, as issuing warm from the cross. It is a peculiar ex- 
cellence of the gospel, that in its wonderful adaptation to 
the state and condition of mankind, as fallen creatures, it 
bears intrinsic marks of its divinity, and is supported not 
less by internal than by external evidence. By a powerful 
appeal to the conscience, by a faithful delineation of man 
in his grandeur, and in his weakness, in his original capacity 
for happiness, and his present misery and guilt, present 
this branch of its evidence in all its force. Seize on every 
occasion those features of Christianity which render it inter- 
esting; and by awakening the fears, and exciting the hopes, 
of your hearers, endeavour to annihilate every other object, 
and make it appear what it really is, the pearl of great 





292 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


price, the sovereign balm, the cure of every ill, the antidote 
of death, the precursor of immortality. In such a ministry, 
fear not to give loose to all the ardour of your soul, to call 
into action every emotion and every faculty which can exalt 
or adorn it. You will find ample scope for all its force and 
tenderness; and should you be called to pour your life as a 
libation on the offering of the Gentiles, you will only have 
the more occasion to exult and rejoice. 

In order to qualify yourself for the performance of 
these duties, it is above all things necessary for you to 
acquaint yourself with the general doctrines of Christianity 
in their full extent; but it will be neither necessary nor ex- 
pedient to initiate your converts into those controversies 
which, through a long course of time, have grown up 
amongst Christians. Endeavour to acquire as extensive and 
perfect a knowledge as possible of the dictates of inspira- 
tion, and by establishing your hearers in these, preclude the 
entrance of error, rather than confute it. Be always pre- 
pared to answer every modest inquiry into the grounds of 
your faith and practice; and that you may be more capable 
of entering into their difficulties, and anticipating their 
objections, place yourself as much as possible in the situa- 


tion of those whom you are called to instruct. When we — 


consider the permanent consequences likely to result from 
first impressions on the minds of pagans, the few advan- 
tages they possess for religious discussion, and the extreme 
confidence they are likely to repose in their spiritual guides, 
you must be conscious how important it is to plant wholly a 
right seed. Your defective representations of truth will 
not soon be supplied, nor the errors you plant extirpated, 
since we find societies of Christians in these parts of the 
world, where discussion and controversy abound, retain 
from generation to generation the distinguishing tenets of 


a | 





THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY 293 


their leaders. In forming the plan, and laying the founda- 
tion of an edifice which it is proposed shall last for ever, it 
is desirable that no materials should be admitted but such 
as are solid and durable, and no ornaments introduced but 
such as are chaste and noble. As it would be too much to 
expect you should perfectly succeed in imparting the mind 
of Christ, might I be permitted to advise, you will lean 
rather to the side of defect than excess, and in points of 
inferior magnitude omit what is true, rather than inculcate 
what is doubtful; since the influence of religion on the heart 
depends not on the multiplicity, but on the quality of its 
objects. 

The unnecessary multiplication of articles of faith gives 
a character of littleness to Christianity, and tends in no 
small degree to impress a similar character on its professors. 
The grandeur and efficacy of the Gospel results not from an 
immense accumulation of little things, but from its powerful 
exhibition of a few great ones. 

Among the indirect benefits which may be expected to 
arise from missions, we may be allowed to anticipate a more 
pure, simple, apostolical mode of presenting the Gospel. 

The situation of a Missionary retired from the scene 
of debate and controversy, who has continually before his 
eyes the objects which presented themselves to the attention 
of the apostles, is favourable to an emancipation from 
prejudice of every sort, and to the acquisition of just and 
enlarged conceptions of Christianity. It will be your lot 
to walk the same wards in this great hospital, and to pre- 
scribe to the same class of patients that first experienced the 
salutary and renovating power of the Gospel. ‘The gods 
which are worshipped at this time in India are supposed by 
Sir William Jones to be the very same, under different 
names, with those who shared the adoration of Italy and 


ro - 





294 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


Greece when the Gospel was first published in those regions; 


so that you will be an eye-witness of the very evils and © 


enormities which then prevailed in the Western hemisphere, 
and which the sword of the Spirit so effectually subdued. 
You will be under great advantages for ascending to first 
principles, for tracing the stream to its head and spring, by 
having incessantly to contemplate that state of things in a 
moral view, of which every page of Scripture assumes the 
existence, but of which the inhabitants of Europe have no 
living experience. It is with great satisfaction accordingly 
I have observed the harmony of doctrine, the identity of 
instruction, which has pervaded the ministry of Protestant 
missionaries, who have been employed under the auspices 
of different denominations of Christians. 

Few things more powerfully tend to enlarge the mind 
than conversing with great objects, and engaging in great 
pursuits. [hat the object you are pursuing is entitled to 
that appellation, will not be questioned by him who reflects 
on the infinite advantages derived from Christianity, to 
every nation and clime where it has prevailed in its purity, 
and that the prodigious superiority which Europe possesses 
over Asia and Africa, is chiefly to be ascribed to this cause. 
It is the possession of a religion which comprehends the 
seeds of endless improvement, which maintans an incessant 
struggle with whatever is barbarous, selfish, or inhuman, 
which, by unveiling futurity, clothes morality with the sanc- 
tion of a divine law, and harmonizes utility and virtue in 
every combination of events, and in every stage of existence; 
a religion which, by affording the most just and sublime 
conceptions of the Deity, and of the moral relations of 
man, has given birth at once to the loftiest speculation, and 
the most child-like humility, uniting the inhabitants of the 
globe into one family, and in the bonds of a common salva- 





THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY 295 


tion; it is this religion which, rising upon us like a finer sun, 
has quickened moral vegetation, and replenished Europe 
with talents, virtues, and exploits, which, in spite of its 
physical disadvantages, have rendered it a paradise, the de- 
light and wonder of the world. An attempt to propagate 
this religion among the natives of Hindostan, may perhaps 
be stigmatized as visionary and romantic; but to enter the 
lists of controversy with those who would deny it to be 
great and noble, would be a degradation to reason. 

In the views of the most enlightened statesmen, com- 
pared to those of a Christian minister, there is a littleness 
and limitation, which is not to be imputed in one case as a 
moral imperfection, nor in the other as a personal merit; 
the difference arising purely from the disparity in the sub- 
jects upon which they respectively speculate. Should you 
be asked on your arrival in India, as it is very probable you 
will, what there is in Christianity which renders it so in- 
estimable in your eyes, that you judged it fit to undertake 
so long, dangerous, and expensive a voyage, for the pur- 
pose of imparting it,—you will answer without hesitation, 
it is the power of God to salvation; nor will any view of it 
short of this, or the inculcation of it for any inferior pur- 
pose, enable it to produce even those moralizing and civiliz- 
ing effects it is so powerfully adapted to accomplish. Chris- 
tianity will civilize, it is true, but it is only when it is allowed 
to develop the energies by which it sanctifies. Christianity 
will inconceivably ameliorate the present condition of being, 
—who doubts it? Its universal prevalence, not in the name 
but in reality, will convert this world into a semi-paradisi- 
acal state; but it is only while it is permitted to prepare its 
inhabitants for a better. Let her be urged to forget her 
celestial origin and destiny, to forget that “she came from 
God, and returns to God;”’ and whether she is employed by 





296 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


the artful and enterprising, as the instrument of establishing 
a spiritual empire and dominion over mankind, or by the 
philanthropist, as the means of promoting their civilization 
and improvement, she resents the foul indignity, claps her 
wings, and takes her flight, leaving nothing but a base and 
sanctimonious hypocrisy in her room. 

Preach it then, my dear brother, with a constant recol- 
lection that such is its character and aim. Preach it with 
a perpetual view to eternity, and with the simplicity and 
affection with which you would address your dearest friends, 
were they assembled round your dying bed. While others 
are ambitious to form the citizen of earth, be it yours to 
train him for heaven; to raise up the temple of God from 
among the ancient desolations; to contribute your part 
towards the formation and perfection of that eternal 
society, which will flourish in inviolable purity and order, 
when all human association shall be dissolved, and the 
princes of this world shall come to nought. In the pursuit 
of these objects, let it be your ambition to tread in the 
footsteps of a Brainerd and a Schwartz; I may add, of your 
excellent relative, with whom we are happy in perceiving 
you to possess a congeniality of character, not less than an 
affinity of blood. 

But should you succeed beyond your utmost hope, expect 
not to escape the ridicule of the ungodly, or the censure of 
the world: but be content to sustain that sort of reputation, 
and run that sort of career, invariably allotted to the Chris- 
tian Missionary; where, agreeable to the experience of St. 
Paul, obscurity and notoriety, admiration and scorn, sor- 
rows and consolations, attachments the most tender and 
opposition the most violent, are interchangeably mingled. 

But whatever be the sentiments of the world, respecting 
which you will indulge no excessive solicitude, your name 








THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY 297 





will be precious in India, your memory dear to multitudes, 
who will reverence in you the instrument of their eternal 
salvation; and how much more satisfaction will accrue from 
the consciousness of this, than from the loudest human 
applause, your own reflections will determine. At that 
awful moment when you are called to bid a final adieu to 
the world, and to look into eternity; when the hopes, fears, 
and agitations which sublunary objects shall have occa- 
sioned, will subside like a feverish dream, or a vision of the 
night, the certainty of belonging to the number of the saved 
will be the only consolation; and when to this is joined the 
conviction of having contributed to enlarge that number, 
your joy will be full. You will be conscious of having con- 
ferred a benefit on your fellow-creatures, you know not 
precisely what, but of such a nature that it will require all 
the illumination of eternity to measure its dimensions, and 
ascertain its value. Having followed Christ in the regener- 
ation, in the preparatory labours accompanying the renova- 
tion of mankind, you will rise to an elevated station in a 
world where the scantiest portion is a “far more exceeding 
and eternal weight of glory,’ and a conspicuous place will 
be assigned you in that unchanging firmament, where those 
who have turned many to righteousness, shall shine as the 
stars for ever and ever. 





The Triumph of Calvary 





CHRISTMAS EVANS 


HRISTMAS EVANS was born at Ysgarwen, South 

Wales, on the 25th of December, 1766. The date of 
his birth accounts for his unusual Christian name. His 
parents were very poor, and he was brought up in an 
environment of vice, ignorance and unkind treatment, and 
did not learn to read until he was eighteen years of age. 
At eighteen he experienced a spiritual awakening, and 
became a member of the Arminian Presbyterians. His 
desire to know the Bible was the stimulus which moved 
him to learn to read. He now began to exercise his gifts in 
prayer and testimony, but had made little headway in his 
Christian life when, at the age of twenty-two, he was im- 
mersed in the River Duar and became a preacher of the 
Calvinistic Baptists. The first years of his preaching 
were marked by periods of doubt and gloom and spiritual 
dryness. But at length the day came when he received ‘“‘an 
unction from on high,” and henceforth he preached with 
great joy and assurance. At the age of forty-six he settled 
in the Isle of Anglesea, where he remained for twenty 
years on the salary of seventeen pounds a year. He had 
several other pastorates in different parts of Wales and in 
nearly every church had some difficulty or unhappiness. 
This is reflected in one of the petitions of the quaint 
covenant he made with God: “Suffer me not to be trodden 
under the proud feet of members or deacons, for the sake 
of Thy goodness.” He died at Swansea in 1838, the 
seventy-third year of his age. 

Christmas Evans was one of the great natural preachers. 
Some think that if he had been better educated his power 
and influence as a preacher would have been much greater 
than it was. But this is doubtful, for a more formal edu- 
cation might have toned down his imagination and stripped 
him of that garment of allegory which he wore with such 
splendid effect. After he once found his stride his popu- 


299 





300 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


larity never waned, and his wonderful descriptive and 
pictorial powers were as marked in his old age as in his 
youth. Evans was six feet tall and had a noble appearance 
in the pulpit. On one of his early trips to England he was 
beaten by a mob of rufhans and lost the sight of an eye. 
But this injury seemed to add to, rather than detract from, 
the power of his presence, and he was known throughout 
Wales as “‘the one-eyed man of Anglesea.’’ Sermons lose 
greatly in power when they are transferred from the 
pupit to the printed page, and still more when, as is the 
case with the sermons of Evans, which were delivered in 
Welsh, they must be read in a translation. But, notwith- 
standing this handicap, the printed sermons of Evans 
clearly show the extraordinary power of his preaching. 

Reports of the sermon on the Demoniac of Gadara, 
preached at one of the meetings of the Baptist Association, 
describe the alternate waves of laughter and weeping 
which swept like waves over the vast throng, and how the 
sermon ended with the congregation falling on their knees 
and calling upon God for mercy. “The sermon selected 
for this volume, ““Che Triumph of Calvary,” shows Evans 
at his best. It first appeared in the celebrated “Specimens 
of Welsh Preaching.” 





— 


The Triumph of Calvary 


“Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments 
from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling 
in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteous- 
ness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine 
apparel and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine- 
fat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people 
there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine 
anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall 
be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my rai- 
ment. For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year 
of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was none 
to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: 
therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me: and my 
fury, it upheld me. And I will tread down the people in 
mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will 
bring down their strength to the earth” (Isaiah 63:1-6). 


HIS passage is one of the sublimest in the Bible. 
Not more majestic and overwhelming is the voice 
of God issuing from the burning bush. It represents 
“the Captain of our salvation,” left alone in the heat of 
battle, marching victoriously through the broken columns 
of the foe, bursting the bars asunder, bearing away the 
brazen gates, and delivering by conquest the captives of sin 
and death. Let us first determine the events to which our 
text relates, and then briefly explain the questions and 
answers which it contains. 
I. We have here a wonderful victory, obtained by 
Christ, in the city of Bozrah, in the land of Edom. Our 
first inquiry concerns the time and the place of that achieve- 
ment. 


301 





302 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


Some of the prophecies are literal, and others are figura- 
tive. Some of them are already fulfilled, and others in 
daily process of fulfilment. Respecting this prophecy, di- 
vines disagree. Some think it is a description of Christ’s 
conflict and victory, without the gates of Jerusalem, eight- 
een centuries ago; and others understand it as referring to 
the great battle of Armageddon, predicted in the Apoc- 
alypse, and yet to be consummated before the end of the 
world. 

I am not willing to pass by mount Calvary, and Joseph’s 


new tomb, on my way to the field of Armageddon; nor am I 


willing to pause at the scene of the crucifixion and the as- 
cension, without going farther on to the final conquest of 
the foe. I believe Divine inspiration has included both 
events in the text; the victory already won on Calvary, and 
the victory yet to be accomplished in Armageddon; the 
finished victory of Messiah’s passion, and the progressive 
victory of his gospel and his grace. 

The chief difficulty, in understanding some parts of the 
word of God, arises from untranslated words; many of 
which are found in our own version, as well as in that of 
our English neighbors. For instance—it is said, ‘‘He came 
and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled 
which was spoken by the prophet, He shall be called a 
Nazarene.’ Where in the prophets is it predicted that 
Christ shall be called a Nazarene? Nowhere. When the 
proper names are translated, the difficulty vanishes. ‘‘He 
came and dwelt in a city called plantation, that it might be 
fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, He shall’ be 
called the Branch.” This name is given him by Isaiah, Jer- 
emiah and Zechariah. Now this is precisely the difficulty 
that occurs in our text, and the translation of the terms un- 
ties the knot:—‘Who is this that cometh from Edom,” 


ae 





THE TRIUMPH OF CALVARY 303 


red earth—‘with dyed garments from Bozrah,” tribula- 
tion? 

The former part of the text has reference to the victory 
of Calvary; the latter part anticipates the battle and tri- 
umph of Armageddon, mentioned in Revelation. ‘The vic- 
tory of Calvary is consummated on the morning of the third 
day after the crucifixion. The Conqueror comes up from 
the earth, exclaiming:—‘I have trodden the winepress 
alone on Calvary; and I will tread them in mine anger, and 
make them drunk in my fury, at the battle of Armageddon. 
[ will overtake and destroy the beast, and the false prophet, 
and that old serpent the devil, with all their hosts.” 

When the tide of battle turned, on the field of Water- 
loo, the Duke of Wellington mounted his horse, and pur- 
sued the vanquished foe. So Isaiah’s Conqueror, having 
routed the powers of hell on Calvary, pursues and destroys 
them on the field of Armageddon. Here he is represented 
as a hero on foot, a prince without an army; but John, the 
revelator, saw him riding on a white horse, and followed 
by the armies of heaven, all on white horses, and not a foot- 
man among them. 

The victory of Calvary is like the blood of atonement 
in the sanctuary. The cherubim were some of them look- 
ing one way, and some the other, but all were looking on the 
atoning blood. ‘Thus all the great events of time—all the 
trials and triumphs of God’s people—those which happened 
before, those which have happened since, and those which 
are yet to happen, are all looking toward the wrestling of 
Gethsemane, the conflict of Golgotha, and the triumph of 
Olivet. The escape from Egypt, and the return from Bab- 
ylon looked forward to the cross of Christ; and the faith 
of the perfect man of Uz hung on a risen Redeemer. The 
Christian martyrs overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and 





304 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


all their victories were in virtue of one great achievement. 
The tomb of Jesus is the birthplace of his people’s immor- 
tality, and the power which raised him from the dead shall 
open the sepulchres of all his saints. ‘Thy dead men shall 
live; together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake 
and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew 
of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth her dead,”’ 

Christ offered himself a sacrifice for us, and drank the 
cup of God’s righteous indignation in our stead. He was 
trodden by Almighty justice, as a cluster of grapes, in the 
winepress of the law, till the vessels of mercy overflowed 
with the wine of peace and pardon, which has made thou- 
sands of contrite and humble spirits ‘‘rejoice with joy un- 
speakable and full of glory.” He suffered for us, that we 
might triumph with him. But our text describes him as a 
king and a conqueror. He was, at once, the dying victim 
and the immortal victor. In “‘the power of an endless life,”’ 
he was standing by the altar, when the sacrifice was burning. 
He was alive in his sacerdotal vestments, with his golden 
censer in his hand. He was alive in his kingly glory, with 
his sword and his sceptre in his hand. He was alive in his 
conquering prowess, and had made an end of sin, and 
bruised the head of the serpent, and spoiled the principali- 
ties and powers of hell, and turned the vanquished hosts of 
the prince of darkness down to the winepress of the wrath 
of Almighty God. ‘Then, on the morning of the third day, 
when he arose from the dead, and made a show of them 
openly—then began the year of jubilee with power! 

After the prophets of ancient times had long gazed 
through the mists of futurity, at the sufferings of Christ 
and the glory that should follow, a company of them were 
gathered together on the summit of Calvary. They saw a 
host of enemies ascending the hill, arrayed for battle, and 








THe TRIUMPH OF CALVARY 305 


most terriffic in their aspect. In the middle of the line was 
the law of God, fiery and exceeding broad, and working 
wrath. On the right wing, was Beelzebub with his troops 
of infernals; and on the left Caiaphas with his Jewish 
priests, and Pilate with his Roman soldiers. The rear was 
brought up by Death, the last enemy. When the holy seers 
had espied this army, and perceived that it was drawing 
nigh, they started back, and prepared for flight. As they 
looked round, they saw the Son of God advancing with in- 
trepid step, having his face fixed on the hostile band. ‘“‘Seest 
thou the danger that is before thee,” said one of the men 
of God. “I will tread them in mine anger,” he replied, 
‘‘and trample them in my fury.” ‘“‘Who art thou?” said 
the prophet; He answered: “I that speak in righteousness, 
mighty to save.” ‘Wilt thou venture to the battle alone ?”’ 
asked the seer. The Son of God replied: “I looked, and 
there was none to help; and I wondered there was none to 
uphold; therefore mine own arm shall bring salvation unto 
me; and my fury it shall uphold me.” ‘At what point wilt 
thou commence thy attack?” inquired the anxious prophet. 
“T will first meet the Law,” he replied, ‘‘and pass under its 
curse: forlo! I come to do thy will, OO God. When I shall 
have succeeded at the centre of the line, the colors will turn 
in my favor.” So saying he moved forward. Instantly the 
thunderings of Sinai were heard, and the whole band of 
prophets quaked with terror. But he advanced, undaunted, 
amidst the gleaming lightnings. For a moment he was con- 
cealed from view; and the banner of wrath waved about in 
triumph. Suddenly the scene was changed. A stream of 
blood poured forth from his wounded side, and put out all 
the fires of Sinai. The flag of peace was now seen unfurled, 
and consternation filled the ranks of his foes. He then 
crushed, with his bruised heel, the old serpent’s head; and 





306 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


put all the infernal powers to flight. With his iron rod he 
dashed to pieces the enemies on the left wing, like a pot- 
ter’s vessel. Death still remained, who thought himself in- 
vincible, having hitherto triumphed over all. He came for- 
ward, brandishing his sting, which he had whetted on Sinai’s 
tables of stone. He darted it at the Conqueror, but it 
turned down, and hung like the flexible lash of a whip. Dis- 
mayed, he retreated to the grave, his palace, into which the 
Conqueror pursued. In a dark corner of his den, he sat on 
his throne of moldering skulls, and called upon the worms, 
his hitherto faithful allies, to aid him in the conflict; but 
they replied—‘His flesh shall see no corruption!’ The 
scepter fell from his hand. ‘The Conqueror seized him, 
bound him, and condemned him to the lake of fire; and then 
rose from the grave, followed by a band of released cap- 
tives, who came forth after his resurrection to be witnesses 
of the victory which he had won. 

John in the Apocalypse did not look so far back as the 
treading of this winepress; but John saw him on his white 
horse, decked with his many crowns, his eyes like flames of 
fire, a two-edged sword in his hand, in the van of the armies 
of heaven, going forth conquering and to conquer. ‘This is 
the fulfilment of his declaration in our text:—‘‘For I will 
tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury.” 
This is the beginning of the jubilee, the battle of Armaged- 
don, wherein. all heathen idolatry and superstition shall be 
overthrown, and the beast and the false prophet shall be 
discomfited, and the devil and his legions shall be taken 
prisoners by Emmanuel, and shut up in the bottomless pit. 
He who hath conquered principalities and powers on Cal- 
vary, will not leave the field, till he make all his enemies his 
footstool, and sway his scepter over a subject universe. 
Having sent forth the gospel from Jerusalem, he accom- 





THE TRIUMPH OF CALVARY 307 


panies it with the grace of his Holy Spirit; and it shall not 
return unto him void, but shall accomplish that which he 
pleaseth, and prosper in the thing whereto he hath sent it. 

The victory of Armageddon is obtained by virtue of the 
victory of Calvary. It is but the consummation of the same 
glorious campaign; and the first decisive blow dealt on the 
prince of darkness is a sure precursor of the final conquest. 
“T will meet thee again at Philippi!’’ said the ghost of 
Julius Caesar to Brutus. ‘“‘I will meet thee again at Ar- 
mageddon!”’ saith the Son of God to Satan on Calvary—“T 
will meet thee in the engagement between good and evil, 
grace and depravity, in every believer’s heart; in the contest 
of Divine Truth with human errors, of the religion of God 
with the superstitions of men; in every sermon, every re- 
vival, every missionary enterprise; in the spread and glory 
of the gospel in the latter day, I will meet thee; and the heel 
which thou hast now bruised, shall crush thy head forever!” 

Man’s deliverance is of God. Man had neither the in- 
clination nor the power. His salvation originated in the 
Divine Love, and burst forth like an ocean from the foun- 
tains of eternity. Satan, as a ravenous lion, had taken the 
prey, and was running to his den with the bleeding sheep 
in his mouth; but the Shepherd of Israel pursues him, over- 
takes him, and rends him as if he were a kid. The declara- 
tion of war was made in Eden :—“‘I will put enmity between 
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; 
thou shalt bruise his heel, and he shall bruise thy head.” It 
shall be fulfilled. ‘The league with hell, and the covenant 
with death shall not stand. The rebellion shall be quelled, 
the conspiracy shall be broken, and the strong man armed 
shall yield the citadel to a stronger. The works of the devil 
shall be destroyed, and the prey shall be taken from the 
teeth of the terrible. The house of David shall grow 





308 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul shall grow 
weaker and weaker, till the kingdoms of this world shall be- 
come the kingdom of our God and of his Christ, and Satan 
shall be bound in chains of darkness, and cast into the lake 
of fire. All the enemies of Zion shall be vanquished, and 
the forfeited favor of God shall be recovered, and the lost 
territory of peace and holiness and immortality shall be re- 
stored to man. 

This campaign is carried on at the expense of the gov- 
ernment of heaven. The treasury is inexhaustible; the arms 
are irresistible; therefore the victory is sure. The Almighty 
King has descended; he has taken the city of Bozrah; he 
has swayed his scepter over Edom; he has risen victoriously, 
and gone up with a shout, as the leader of all the army. 
This is but the pledge and the earnest of his future achieve- 
ments. In the battle of Armageddon, he shall go forth asa 
mighty man; he shall stir up jealousy as a man of war; and 
he shall prevail against his enemies. ‘They shall be turned 
back-—they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven 
images—that say unto molten images, “Ye are our gods!” 
Then he will open the blind eyes, and bring the prisoners 
from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the 
prison-house. He will make bare his holy arm—he will 
show the sword in that hand which was hidden under the 
scarlet robe—he will manifest his power in the destruction 
of his enemies, and the salvation of his people. As cer- 
tainly as he hath shed his blood on Calvary, shall he stain 
all his raiment with the blood of his foes on the field of 
Armageddon. As certainly as he hath drained the cup of 
wrath, and received the baptism of suffering, on Calvary, 
shall he wield the iron rod of justice, and sway the golden 
scepter of mercy, on the field of Armageddon. Already the 
sword is drawn, and the decisive blow is struck, and the hel- 





THE TRIUMPH OF CALVARY 309 


met of Apollyon is cleft, and the bonds of iniquity are cut 
asunder. Already the fire is kindled, and all the powers of 
hell cannot quench it. It has fallen from heaven; it is con- 
suming the camp of the foe; it is inflaming the hearts of 
men; it is renovating the earth, and purging away the curse. 
“The bright and Morning Star’’ has risen on Calvary; and 
soon “‘the Sun of Righteousness”’ shall shine on the field of 
Armageddon; and the darkness that covers the earth, and 
the gross darkness that covers the people, shall melt away; 
and Mohammedism, and Paganism, and Popery, with their 
prince, the devil, shall seek shelter in the bottomless pit! 
After a battle, we are anxious to learn who is dead, 
who is wounded, and who is missing from the ranks. In the 
engagement of Messiah with Satan and his allies on Cal- 
vary, Messiah’s heel was bruised, but Satan and his allies 


received a mortal wound in the head. The head denotes 


wisdom, cunning, power, government. ‘The devil, sin and 
death have lost their dominion over the believer in Christ, 
since the achievement of Calvary. There is no condemna- 
tion, no fear of hell. But the serpent, though his head is 
bruised, may be able to move his tail, and alarm those of 
little faith. Yet it cannot last long. The wound is mortal, 
and the triumph sure. On Calvary the dragon’s head was 
crushed by the Captain of our salvation; after the battle 
of Armageddon, his tail shall shake no more! 

There is no discharge in this war. He that enlisteth 


under the banner of the cross must endure faithful until 


death—must not lay aside his arms till death is swallowed 
up in victory. Then shall every conqueror bear the image 
of the heavenly, and wear the crown instead of the cross, 
and carry the palm instead of the spear. Let us be strong 
in the Lord, and in the power of his might, that we may be 
able to stand in the evil day; and after all the war is over, 





310 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


to stand accepted in the Beloved, that we may reign with 
him forever and ever. 

II. It remains for us to explain, very briefly, the glori- 
ous colloquy in the text—the interrogatives of the church, 
and the answers of Messiah. 

How great was the wonder and joy of Mary, when she 
met the Master at the tomb, clothed in immortality, where 
she thought to find him shrouded in death! How unspeak- 
able was the astonishment and rapture of the disciples, 
when their Lord, whom they had so recently buried, came 
into the house where they were assembled, and said,— 
‘Peace be unto you!’’ Such are the feelings which the 
church is represented as expressing in this sublime colloquy 
with the Captain of her salvation. He has travelled into 
the land of tribulation; he has gone down to the dust of 
death; but lo, he returns a conqueror, the golden scepter 
of love in his left hand, the iron rod of justice in his right, 
and on his head a crown of many stars. [he church beholds 
him with great amazement and delight. She lately followed 
him, weeping, to the cross, and mourned over his body in 
the tomb; but now she beholds him risen indeed, having de- 
stroyed death, and him that had the power of death—that 
is, the devil. She goes forth to meet him with songs of re- 
joicing, as the daughters of Israel went out to welcome 
David, when he returned from the valley, with the head of 
the giant in his hand, and the blood running down upon his 
raiment. The choir of the church 1s divided into two bands; 
which chant to each other in alternate strains. The right 
hand division begins the glorious colloquy—‘‘Who is this 
that cometh from Edom?” and the left takes up the inter- 
rogative, and repeats it with a variation—‘‘with dyed gar- 
ments from Bozrah?” ‘This that is glorious in his ap- 
parel?’’ resumes the right-hand company—“‘glorious not- 





THE TRIUMPH OF CALVARY 311 


withstanding the tribulations he hath endured?” ‘“Travel- 
ling in the greatness of his strength?” responds the left— 
“strength sufficient to unbar the gates of the grave, and 
liberate the captives of corruption?’ The celestial Con- 
queror pauses, and casts upon the company of the daughters 
of Zion a look of infinite benignity; and with a voice of 
angel melody, and more than angel majesty, he replies—“‘I 
that speak in righteousness, mighty to save!’? Now bursts 
the song again, like the sound of many waters, from the 
right—‘‘Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel?” and the 
response rolls back in melodized thunder from the left— 
“And thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat ?”’ 
The Divine hero answers:—"I have trodden the wine- 
press alone; and of the people there was none with me. 
Even Peter has left me, with all his courage and affection; 
and as for John, to talk of love is all that he can do. Ihave 
triumphed over principalities and powers. I am wounded, 
but they are vanquished. Behold the blood which I have 
lost! Behold the spoils which I have won! Now will I 
mount my white horse, and pursue after Satan, and de- 
molish his kingdom, and send him back to the land of dark- 
ness in everlasting chains, and all his allies shall be exiles 
with him forever. My own arm, which has gained the vic- 
tory on Calvary, and brought salvation to all my people 
from the sepulchre, is still strong enough to wield the golden 
scepter of love, and break my foes on the field of Armaged- 
don. I will destroy the works of the devil, and demolish all 
his hosts; I will dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. 
For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of 
my redeemed is come. My compassion is stirred for the 
captives of sin and death; my fury is kindled against 
the tyrants that oppress them. It is time for me to open the 
prisons and break off the fetters. I must gather my people 


312 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


to myself. I must seek that which was lost, and bring again 
that which was driven away. I must bind up that which was ~ 
broken, and strengthen that which was weak; but I will de- 
stroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judg- 
ment; I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in 
my fury, and bring down their strength to the earth, and 
stain all my raiment with their blood!” 

Let us flee from the wrath to come! Behold, the sun 
is risen high on the day of vengeance! Let us not be found 
among the enemies of Messiah, lest we fall a sacrifice to his 
righteous indignation on the field of Armageddon! Let us 
escape for our lives, for the fire-storm of his anger will — 
burn to the lowest hell! Let us pray for grace to lay hold 
on the salvation of his redeemed! It isa free, full, perfect, — 
glorious and eternal salvation. Return, we ransomed exiles 
from happiness, return to your forfeited inheritance! Now 
is the year of jubilee. Come to Jesus, that your debts may 
be cancelled, your sins forgiven, and your persons justified! 
Come, for the Conqueror of your foes is on the throne! — 
Come, for the trumpets of mercy are sounding! Come, for 
all things are now ready! 





The Sin of Duelling 


or 


The Death of Alexander Hamilton 





ELIPHALET NOTT 


LIPHALET NOTT was born at Ashford, Connec- 
ticut, in 1773 and died at Schenectady, New York, in 
1866. He was educated at Brown University, and in 1804 
became president of Union College, Schenectady. In 
addition to his achievements as a preacher and an edu- 
cator, he was the inventor of the first stove for anthracite 
coal. 

On the 11th of July, 1804, Aaron Burr killed Alexan- 
der Hamilton in a duel on the heights of Hoboken, 
across the Hudson from New York. ‘The duel occasioned 
a tremendous stir in the country and everywhere men 
lamented the tragic and untimely death of Hamilton. “The 
most celebrated utterance on the subject was the memorial 
sermon preached by Eliphalet Nott in the First Presby- 
terian Church, Albany, New York. ‘The sermon was 
widely circulated, and reached the national conscience. 
It played no small part in outlawing the murderous fashion 
of duelling in the United States, where today no man 
could fight a duel without falling in the estimation of his 
countrymen. 

In all the history of preaching there will not be found a 
better example of the sermon for a special occasion. It is 
justly renowned for the eloquent passage commencing, 
“Ah! ye tragic shores of Hoboken, crimsoned with the 
richest blood.” 33 2. 


313 








The Sin of Duelling 


Or 


The Death of Alexander Hamilton 


‘‘How are the mighty fallen!” (2 Sam. 1:19). 


HE occasion explains the choice of my subject—a 

subject on which I enter in obedience to your request. 

You have assembled to express your elegiac sorrows, 
and sad and solemn weeds cover you. 

Before such an audience, and on such an occasion, I 
enter on the duty assigned me with trembling. Do not mis- 
take my meaning. I tremble indeed—not, however, through 
fear of failing to merit your applause; for what have I to 
do with that when addressing the dying, and treading on 
the ashes of the dead; not through fear of failing justly to 
portray the character of that great man, who is at once the 
theme of my encomium and regret. He needs not eulogy. 
His work is finished, and death has removed him beyond 
my censure, and I would fondly hope, through grace, above 
my praise. You will ask then, why I tremble? I tremble 
to think that I am called to attack, from this place, a crime, 
the very idea of which almost freezes one with horror—a 
crime, too, which exists among the polite and polished or- 
ders of society, and which is accompanied with every ag- 
gravation; committed with cool deliberation, and openly in 
the face of day! But I have a duty to perform: and diff- 
cult and awful as that duty is, I will not shrink from it. 

Would to God my talents were adequate to the occa- 
sion. But such as they are, I devoutly proffer them to un- 
fold the nature and counteract the influence of that bar- 
barous custom, which, like a resistless torrent, is undermin- 


a 


316 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


ing the foundations of civil government, breaking down the 
barriers of social happiness, and sweeping away virtue, tal- 
ents and domestic felicity, in its desolating course. 

Another and an illustrious character—a father—a gen- 
eral—a statesman—the very man who stood on an eminence 
and without a rival among sages and heroes, the future 
hope of his country in danger—this man, yielding to the in- 
fluence of a custom, which deserves our eternal reprobation, 
has been brought to an untimely end. 

That the deaths of great and useful men should be par- 
ticularly noticed, is equally the dictate of reason and revela- 
tion. ‘The tears of Israel flowed at the decease of good 
Josiah, and to his memory the funeral women chanted the 
solemn dirge. But neither examples nor arguments are 
necessary to wake the sympathies of a grateful people on 
such occasions. ‘The death of public benefactors surcharges 
the heart, and it spontaneously disburdens itself by a flow 
of sorrows. Such was the death of Washington: to embalm 
whose memory, and perpetuate whose deathless fame, we 
lent our feeble, but unnecessary services. Such, also, and 
more peculiarly so, has been the death of Hamilton. ‘The 
tidings of the former moved us, mournfully moved us, and 
we wept. The account of the latter chilled our hopes, and 
curdled our blood. The former died in a good old age; the 
latter was cut off in the midst of his usefulness. The 
former was a customary providence: we saw in it, if I may 
speak so, the finger of God, and rested in his sovereignty. 
The latter is not attended with this soothing circumstance. 

The fall of Hamilton, owes its existence to mad deliber- 
ation, and is marked by violence. ‘The time, the place, the 
circumstances, are arranged with barbarous coolness. ‘The 
instrument of death is levelled in daylight, and with well 
directed skill pointed at his heart. Alas! the event has 








THE SIN oF DUELLING 317 


proven that it was but too well directed. Wounded, mor- 
tally wounded, on the very spot which still smoked with the 
blood of a favorite son, into the arms of his indiscreet and 
cruel friend the father fell. 

Ah! had he fallen in the course of nature; or jeopardiz- 
ing his life in defence of his country; had he fallen—but he 
did not. He fell in single combat—pardon my mistake— 
he did not fall in single combat. His noble nature refused 
to endanger the life of his antagonist. But he exposed his 
own life. This was his crime: and the sacredness of my 
office forbids that I should hesitate explicitly to declare it so. 
He did not hesitate to declare it so himself. ‘My religious 
and moral principles are strongly opposed to duelling.” 
These are his words before he ventured to the field of 


death. ‘‘I view the late transaction with sorrow and con- 
trition.’ ‘These are his words after his return. Humiliat- 
ing end of illustrious greatness! ‘How are the mighty 


fallen!” And shall the mighty thus fall? ‘Thus shall the 
noblest lives be sacrificed and the richest blood be spilt? 
Tell it not in Gath; publish it not in the streets of 
Askelon!”’ 

Think not that the fatal issue of the late inhuman inter- 
view was fortuitous. No; the hand, that guides unseen the 
arrow of the archer, steadied and directed the arm of the 
duellist. And why did it thus direct it? As a solemn 
memento—as a loud and awful warning to a community 
where justice has slumbered—and slumbered—and slum- 
bered—while the wife has been robbed of her partner, the 
mother of her hopes, and life after life rashly, and with an 
air of triumph, sported away. 

And was there, O my God! no other sacrifice valuable 
enough—would the cry of no other blood reach the place 
of retribution and wake justice, dozing over her awful seat! 





318 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


But though justice should still slumber, and retribution be 
delayed, we who are the ministers of that God who will 
judge the judges of the world, and whose malediction rests 
on him who does his work unfaithfully, we will not keep 
silence. 

I feel, my brethren, how incongruous my subject is with 
the place I occupy. It is humiliating; it is distressing in a 
Christian country, and in churches consecrated to the re- 
ligion of Jesus, to be obliged to attack a crime which out- 
strips barbarism, and would even sink the character of a 
generous savage. But humiliating as it 1s, it is necessary. 
And must we then, even for a moment, forget the elevation 
on which grace hath placed us, and the light which the gos- 
pel sheds around us? Must we place ourselves back in the 
midst of barbarism; and instead of hearers, softened to for- 
giveness by the love of Jesus, filled with noble sentiments 
towards our enemies, and waiting for occasions, after the 
example of divinity, to do them good; instead of such hear- 
ers, must we suppose ourselves addressing hearts petrified 
to goodness, incapable of mercy, and boiling with revenge? 
Must we, O my God! instead of exhorting those who hear 
us, to go on unto perfection, adding to virtue charity, and 
to charity brotherly kindness; must we, as if surrounded by 
an auditory, just emerging out of darkness, and still cruel 
and ferocious, reason to convince them that revenge is im- 
proper, and that to commit deliberate murder, is sin? 

Yes, we must do this. Repeated violations of the law, 
and the sanctuary, which the guilty find in public sentiment, 
prove that it is necessary. 

Withdraw,therefore, for a moment, ye celestial spirits 
—ye holy angels accustomed to hover round these altars, 
and listen to those strains of grace which, heretofore, have 


filled this house of God. Other subjects occupy us. With- 








THE SIN OF DUELLING 319 


draw, therefore, and leave us; leave us to exhort Christian 
parents to restrain their vengeance, and at least to keep 
back their hands from blood; to exhort youth, nurtured in 
Christian families, not rashly to sport with life, nor lightly 
to wring the widow’s heart with sorrows, and fill the or- 
phan’s eye with tears. 

In accomplishing the object which is before me, it will 
not be expected, as it is not necessary, that I should give a 
history of duelling. You need not be informed that it orig- 
inated in a dark and barbarous age. ‘The polished Greek 
knew nothing of it; the noble Roman was above it. Rome 
held in equal detestation the man who exposed his life un- 
necessarily, and him, who refused to expose it when the pub- 
lic good required it. Her heroes were superior to private 
contests. They indulged no vengeance except against the 
enemies of their country. [heir swords were not drawn 
unless her honor was in danger; which honor they defended 
with their swords not only, but shielded with their bosoms 
also, and were then prodigal of their blood. But though 
Greece and Rome knew nothing of duelling, it exists. It 
exists among us: and it exists at once the most rash, the most 
absurd and guilty practice, that ever disgraced a Christian 
nation. 

Guilty—because it is a violation of the law. What law? 
The law of God. “Thou shalt not kill.” This prohibition 
was delivered by God himself, at Sinai, to the Jews. And, 
that it is of universal and perpetual obligation, is manifest 
from the nature of the crime prohibited not only, but also 
from the express declaration of the Christian Lawgiver, 
who hath recognized its justice, and added to it the sanc- 
tions of his own authority. 

“Thou shalt not kill’ Who? Thou, creature. I, the 
Creator, have given life, and thou shalt not take it away! 





320 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


When and under what circumstances may I not take away 
life? Never, and under no circumstances, without my per- 
mission. It is obvious, that no discretion whatever is here 
given. [he prohibition is addressed to every individual 


where the law of God is promulgated, and the terms made 


use of are express and unequivocal. So that life cannot be 
taken under any pretext, without incurring guilt, unless by 
a permission sanctioned by the same authority which sanc- 
tions the general law prohibiting it. From this law, it is 
granted there are exceptions. “These exceptions, however, 
do not result from any sovereignty which one creature has 
over the existence of another, but from the positive ap- 
pointment of that eternal Being, whose “‘is the world and 
the fulness thereof. In whose hand is the soul of every 
living creature, and the breath of all mankind.” Even the 
authority which we claim over the lives of animals is not 
founded on a natural right, but on a positive grant, made 
by the Deity himself to Noah and his sons. This grant con- 
tains our warrant for taking the lives of animals. But if 
we may not take the lives of animals without permission 
from God, much less may we the life of man, made in his 
image. 

In what cases, then, has the Sovereign of life given this 
permission? In rightful war; by the civil magistrate; and 
in necessary self-defence. Besides these, I do not hesitate 
to declare that in the oracles of God there are no other. 
He, therefore, who takes life in any other case, under what- 
ever pretext, takes it unwarrantably, is guilty of what the 
scriptures call murder, and exposes himself to the maledic- 
tion of that God, who 1s an avenger of blood, and who hath 
said, ‘““At the hand of every man’s brother will I require the 
life of man—Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall 
his blood be shed.” 





THE SIN OF DUELLING | 321 


Fhe duellist contravenes the law of God not only, but 
the law of man also. To the prohibition of the former have 
been added the sanctions of the latter. Life taken in a duel, 
by the common law, is murder. And where this is not the 
case, the giving and receiving of a challenging only, is, by 
statute, considered a high misdemeanor, for which the prin- 
cipal and his second are declared infamous, and disfran- 
chised for twenty years. Under what accumulated circum- 
stances of aggravation does the duellist jeopardize his own 
life, or take the life of his antagonist? I am sensible that, 
in a licentious age, and when laws are made to yield to the 
vices of those who move in the higher circles, this crime is 
called by I know not what mild and accommodating name. 
But before these altars; in this house of God, what is it? 
It is murder—deliberate, aggravated murder. If the duel- 
list deny this, let him produce his warrant from the Author 
of life, for taking away from his creature the life which 
had been sovereignly given. If he cannot do this, beyond 
all controversy, he is a murderer; for murder consists in 
taking away life without the permission, and contrary to 
the prohibition of him who gave it. 

Who is it, then, that calls the duellist to the dangerous 
and deadly combat? Is it God? No; on the contrary, He 
forbids it. Is it, then, his country? No; she also utters 
her prohibitory voice. Who is it then? A man of honor. 
And who is this man of honor? A man, perhaps, whose 
honor is a name; who prates, with polluted lips, about the 
sacredness of character, when his own is stained with crimes, 
and needs but the single shade of murder to complete the 
dismal and sickly picture. Every transgression of the di- 
vine law implies great guilt, because it is the transgression 
of infinite authority. But the crime of deliberately and 
lightly taking life, has peculiar aggravations. It is a crime 


Sp4u GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


committed against the written law not only, but also against 
the dictates of reason, the remonstrances of conscience, and 
every tender and amiable feeling of the heart. ‘To the un- 
fortunate sufferer, it is the wanton violation of his most 
sacred rights. It snatches him from his friends and his 
comforts; terminates his state of trial, and precipitates him, 
uncalled for, and perhaps unprepared, into the presence of 
his Judge. 

You will say the duellist feels no malice. Be it so. 
Malice, indeed, is murder in principle. But there may be 
murder in reason, and in fact, where there is no malice. 
Some other unwarrantable passion or principle may lead to 
the unlawful taking of human life. The highwayman, who 
cuts the throat and rifles the pocket of the passing traveller, 
feels no malice. And could he, with equal ease and no 
greater danger of detection, have secured his booty without 
taking life, he would have stayed his arm over the palpitat- 
ing bosom of his victim, and let the plundered suppliant 
pass. Would the imputation of cowardice have been in- 
evitable to the duellist, if a challenge had not been given or 
accepted? ‘The imputation of want had been no less in- 
evitable to the robber, if the money of the passing traveller 
had not been secured. Would the duellist have been will- 
ing to have spared the life of his antagonist, if the point 
of honor could otherwise have been gained? So would the 
robber if the point of property could have been. Who can 
say that the motives of the one are not as urgent as the 
motives of the other? And the means, by which both ob- 
tain the object of their wishes, are the same. ‘Thus, accord- 
ing to the dictates of reason, as well as the law of God, the 
highwayman and the duellist stand on ground equally un- 
tenable, and support their guilty havoc of the human race 
by arguments equally fallacious. 





THE SIN oF DUELLING 323 


Is duelling guilty ?—So it is absurd. It is absurd as a 
punishment, for it admits of no proportion to crimes: and 
besides, virtue and vice, guilt and innocence, are equally 
exposed by it, to death or suffering. As a reparation, it is 
still more absurd, for it makes the injured liable to a still 
greater injury. And as the vindication of personal char- 
acter, it is absurd even beyond madness. 

One man of honor, by some inadvertence, or perhaps 
with design, injures the sensibility of another man of honor. 
In perfect character, the injured gentleman resents it. He 
challenges the offender. The offender accepts the challenge. 
The time is fixed. The place is agreed upon. The circum- 
stances, with an air of solemn mania, are arranged; and the 
principals, with their seconds and surgeons, retire under the 
covert of some solitary hill, or upon the margin of some un- 
frequented beach, to settle this important question of honor, 
by stabbing or shooting at each other. One or the other, or 
both the parties, fall in this polite and gentleman-like con- 
test. And what does this prove? It proves that one or the 
other, or both of them, as the case may be, are marksmen. 
But it affords no evidence that either of them possess honor, 
probity or talents. It is true, that he who falls in single 
combat, has the honor of being murdered: and he who takes 
his life, the honor of a murderer. Besides this, I know not 
of any glory which can redound to the infatuated combat- 
ants, except it be what results from having extended the cir- 
cle of wretched widows, and added to the number of hapless 
orphans. And yet, terminate as it will, this frantic meet- 
ing, by a kind of magic influence, entirely varnishes over a 
defective and smutty character; transforms vice to virtue, 
cowardice to courage; makes falsehood, truth; guilt, inno- 
cence—in one word, it gives a new complexion to the whole 
state of things. The Ethiopian changes his skin, the leopard 





324 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


his spot, and the debauched and treacherous—having shot 
away the infamy of a sorry life, comes back from the field 
of perfectibility, quite regenerated, and, in the fullest sense, 
an honorable man. He is now fit for the company of gen- 
tlemen. He is admitted to that company, and should he 
again, by acts of vileness stain this purity of character so 
nobly acquired, and should any one have the effrontery to 
say he has done so, again he stands ready to vindicate his 
honor, and by another*act of homicide, to wipe away the 
stain which has been attached to it. 

I might illustrate this article by example. I might pro- 
duce instances of this mysterious transformation of char- 
acter, in the sublime circles of moral refinement, furnished 
by the higher orders of the fashionable world, which the 
’ mere firing of pistols has produced. But the occasion is too 
awful for irony. Absurd as duelling is, were it absurd only, 
though we might smile at the weakness and pity the folly of 
its abettors, there would be no occasion for seriously at- 
tacking them. But to what has been said, I add, that duel- 
ling is rash and presumptuous. 

Life is the gift of God, and it was never bestowed to 
be sported with. To each, the Sovereign of the universe 
has marked out a sphere to move in, and assigned a part to 
act. [his part respects ourselves not only, but others also. 
Each lives for the benefit of all. 

As in the system of nature the sun shines, not to display 
its own brightness and answer its own convenience, but to 
warn, enlighten and bless the world; so in the system of ani- 
mated beings, there is a dependence, a correspondence, and 
a relation, through an infinitely extended, dying and reviv- 
ing universe—‘‘in which no man. liveth to himself, and no 
man dieth to himself.’ Friend is related to friend; the 
father to his family; the individual to community. To every 





THE SIN OF DUELLING 325 





member of which, having fixed his station and assigned his 
duty, the God of nature says, ‘‘Keep this trust—defend this 
post.” For whom? For thy friends, thy family, thy coun- 
try. And having received such a charge, and for such a 
purpose, to desert it is rashness and temerity. 

Since the opinions of men are as they are, do you ask, 
how you shall avoid the imputation of cowardice, if you do 
not fight when you are injured? Ask your family how you 
will avoid the imputation of cruelty; ask your conscience 
how you will avoid the imputation of guilt: ask God how 
you will avoid his malediction, if you do? ‘These are pre- 
vious questions. Let these first be answered, and it will be 
easy to reply to any which may follow them. If you only 
accept a challenge, when you believe, in your conscience, 
hat duelling is wrong, you act the coward. The dastardly 
bear of the world governs you. Awed by its menaces, you 
conceal your sentiments, appear in disguise, and act in guilty 
conformity to principles not your own, and that too in the 
most solemn moment, and when engaged in an act which ex- 
poses you to death. 

But if it be rashness to accept, how passing rashness is 
it, in a sinner, to give a challenge? Does it become him, 
whose life is measured out by crimes, to be extreme to mark, 
and punctilious to resent, whatever is amiss in others? Must 

the duellist, who now disdaining to forgive, so imperiously 
demands satisfaction to the uttermost—must this man him- 
self, trembling at the recollection of his offences, presently 
appear a suppliant before the mercy-seat of God? Imagine 
this, and the case is not imaginary, and you cannot conceive 
an instance of greater inconsistency, or of more presumptu- 
ous arrogance. Therefore, ‘‘avenge not yourselves, but 
rather give place unto wrath; for vengeance is mine, [I will 
repay it, saith the Lord.” Do you ask, then, how you shall 


ae 


326 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


conduct towards your enemy, who hath lightly done you 
wrong? If he be hungry, feed him; if naked, clothe him; if 
thirsty, give him drink. Such, had you preferred your ques- 
tion to Jesus Christ, is the answer he had given you. By 
observing which, you will usually subdue, and always act 
more honorably than your enemy. 

I feel, my brethren, as a minister of Jesus and a teacher 
of his gospel, a noble elevation on this article. Compare 
the conduct of the Christian, acting in conformity to the 
principles of religion, and of the duellist, acting in conform- 
ity to the principles of honor, and let reason say, which 
bears the marks of the most exalted greatness. Compare 
them, and let reason say, which enjoys the most calm seren- 
ity of mind in time, and which is likely to receive the plaudit 
of his Judge in immortality. God, from his throne, beholds 
not a nobler object on his footstool, than the man who loves 
his enemies, pities their errors, and forgives the injuries 
they do him. ‘This is, indeed, the very spirit of the heavens. 
It is the image of His benignity, whose glory fills them. 

To return to the subject before us—guilty, absurd and 
rash, as duelling is, it has its advocates. And had it not 
had its advocates—had not a strange preponderance of 
opinion been in favor of it, never, O lamentable Hamilton! 
hadst thou thus fallen, in the midst of thy days, and before 
thou hadst reached the zenith of thy glory! 

O that I possessed the talent of eulogy, and that I might 
be permitted to indulge the tenderness of friendship, in 
paying the last tribute to his memory! O that I were capa- 
ble of placing this great man before you! Could I do this, 
I should furnish you with an argument, the most practical, 
the most plain, the most convincing, except that drawn from 
the mandate of God, that was ever furnished against duel- 
ling—that horrid practice, which has, in an awful moment, 





THE SIN OF DUELLING 327 





robbed the world of such exalted worth. But I cannot do 
this; | can only hint at the variety and exuberance of his 
excellence. 

The Man, on whom nature seems originally to have im- 

_ pressed the stamp of greatness, whose genius beamed, from 
the retirement of collegiate life, with a radiance which daz- 
zled, and a loveliness which charmed the eye of sages. 

The Hero, called from his sequestered retreat, whose 
first appearance in the field, though a stripling, conciliated 
the esteem of Washington, our good old father. Moving 
by whose side, during all the perils of the revolution, our 
young chieftain was a contributor to the veteran’s glory, 
the guardian of his person, and the copartner of his toils. 

The Conqueror, who, sparing of human blood, when 
victory favored, stayed the uplifted arm, and nobly said to 
the vanquished enemy, “Live!” 

The Statesman, the correctness of whose principles and 
the strength of whose mind, are inscribed on the records 
of Congress, and on the annals of the council-chamber; 
whose genius impressed itself upon the constitution of his 
country; and whose memory, the government, illustrious 
fabric, resting on this basis, will perpetuate while it lasts; 
and shaken by the violence of party, should it fall, which 
may heaven avert, his prophetic declarations will be found 
inscribed on its ruins. 

The Counsellor, who was at once the pride of the bar 
and the admiration of the court; whose apprehensions were 
quick as lightning, and whose development of truth was 
luminous as its path; whose argument no change of cir- 
cumstances could embarrass; whose knowledge appeared in- 
tuitive; and who, by a single glance, and with as much 
facility as the eye of the eagle passes over the landscape, 
surveyed the whole field of controversy; saw in what way 


FI ; 





328 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


truth might be most successfully defended, and how error 
must be approached; and who, without ever stopping, ever 
hesitating, by a rapid and manly march, led the listening 
judge and the fascinated juror, step by step, through a de- 
lightsome region, brightening as he advanced, till his ar- 
gument rose to demonstration, and eloquence was rendered 
useless by conviction; whose talents were employed on the 
side of righteousness; whose voice, whether in the council- 
chamber, or at the bar of justice, was virtue’s consolation, 
at whose approach oppressed humanity felt a secret rapture, 
and the heart of injured innocence leapt for joy. 

Where Hamilton was—in whatever sphere he moved, ~ 
the friendless had a friend, the fatherless a father, and the 
poor man, though unable to reward his kindness, found an — 
advocate. It was when the rich oppressed the poor; when 
the powerful menaced the defenceless; when truth was dis- 
regarded, or the eternal principles of justice violated; it 
was on these occasions, that he exerted all his strength; it 
was on these occasions, that he sometimes soared so high 
and shone with a radiance so transcendent, I had almost 
said, so “‘heavenly, as filled those around him with awe, and 
gave to him the force and authority of a prophet.” 

The Patriot, whose integrity baffled the scrutiny of in- 
quisition; whose manly virtue never shaped itself to cir- 
cumstances; who, always great, always himself, stood 
amidst the varying tides of party, firm, like the rock, which, 
far from land, lifts its majestic top above the waves, and 
remains unshaken by the storms which agitate the ocean. 

The Friend, who knew no guile—whose bosom was 
transparent and deep; in the bottom of whose heart was 
rooted every tender and sympathetic virtue; whose various 
worth opposing parties acknowledged while alive, and on 


4 





THE SIN oF DUELLING 329 


whose tomb they unite, with equal sympathy and grief, to 
heap their honors. 

I know he had his failings. I see, on the picture of his 
life—a picture rendered awful by greatness, and luminous 
by virtue, some dark shades. On these, let the tear, that 
pities human weakness, fall; on these, let the veil, which 
covers human frailty, rest. As a hero, as a statesman, as 
a patriot, he lived nobly: and would to God I could add, 
he nobly fell. Unwilling to admit his error in this respect, 
I go back to the period of discussion. I see him resisting 
the threatened interview. I imagine myself present in his 
chamber. Various reasons, for a time, seem to hold his de- 
termination in arrest. Various and moving objects pass be- 
fore him, and speak a dissuasive language. His country, 
which may need his counsels to guide, and his arm to defend, 
utters her veto. The partner of his youth, already covered 
with weeds, and whose tears flow down into her bosom, in- 
tercedes! His babes, stretching out their little hands and 
pointing to a weeping mother, with lisping eloquence, but 
eloquence which reaches a parent’s heart, cry out, “Stay, 
stay, dear papa, and live for us!’’ In the mean time, the 
spectre of a fallen son, pale and ghastly, approaches, opens 
his bleeding bosom, and as the harbinger of death, points 
to the yawning tomb, and warns a hesitating father of the 
issue! He pauses: reviews these sad objects: and reasons 
on the subject. I admire his magnanimity, I approve his 
reasoning, and I wait to hear him reject, with indignation, 
the murderous proposition, and to see him spurn from his 
presence thé presumptuous bearer of it. But I wait in vain. 
It was a moment in which his great wisdom forsook him— 
a moment in which Hamilton was not himself. He yielded 
to the force of an imperious custom: and yielding, he sacri- 
ficed a life in which all had an interest—and he is lost— 





330 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


lost to his country, lost to his family, lost to us. For this 
act, because he disclaimed it, and was penitent, I forgive 
him. But there are those whom I cannot forgive. I mean 
not his antagonist; over whose erring steps, if there be 
tears in heaven, a pious mother looks down and weeps. If 
he be capable of feeling, he suffers already all that human- 
ity can suffer—suffers, and wherever he may fly, will suffer, 
with the poignant recollection of having taken the life of 
one, who was too magnanimous, in return, to attempt his 
own. Had he known this, it must have paralyzed his arm, 
while it pointed, at so incorruptible a bosom, the instru- 
ment of death. Does he know this now? His heart, if 
it be not adamant, must soften—if it be not ice, must melt. 
But on this article I forbear. Stained with blood as he is, 
if he be penitent, I forgive him—and if he be not, before 
these altars, where all of us appear as suppliants, I wish 
not to excite your vengeance, but rather, in behalf of an 
object, rendered wretched and pitiable by crime, to wake 
your prayers. 

But I have said, and I repeat it, there are those whom 
I cannot forgive. I cannot forgive that minister at the al- 
tar, who has hitherto forborne to remonstrate on this sub- 
ject. I cannot forgive that public prosecutor, who, intrusted 
with the duty of avenging his country’s wrongs, has seen 
those wrongs, and taken no measures to avenge them. I 
cannot forgive that judge upon the bench, or that governor 
in the chair of state, who has lightly passed over such of- 
fences. JI cannot forgive the public, in whose opinion the 
duellist finds a sanctuary. I cannot forgive you, my brethren, 
who, till this late hour, have been silent, while successive 
murders were committed. No; I cannot forgive you, that 
you have not, in common with the freemen of this state, 
raised your voice to the powers that be, and loudly and ex- 





THE SIN OF DUELLING 331 


plicitly demanded an execution of your laws; demanded this 
in a manner, which, if it did not reach the ear of govern- 
ment, would at least have reached the heavens, and pled 
your excuse before the God that filleth them—in whose 
presence as I stand, I should not feel myself innocent of the 
blood that crieth against us, had I been silent. But I have 
not been silent. Many of you who hear me, are my wit- 
nesses—the walls of yonder temple, where I have hereto- 
fore addressed you, are my witnesses, how freely I have 
animadverted on this subject, in the presence both of those 
who have violated the laws, and of those whose indisensable 
duty it is to see the laws executed on those who violate them. 

I enjoy another opportunity; and would to God, I might 
be permitted to approach for once the late scene of death. 
Would to God, I could there assemble, on the one side, the 
disconsolate mother with her seven fatherless children; and 
on the other, those who administer the justice of my coun- 
try. Could I do this, | would point them to these sad ob- 
jects. I would entreat them, by the agonies of bereaved 
fondness, to listen to the widow’s heartfelt groans; to mark 
the orphan’s sighs and tears. And having done this, I 
would uncover the breathless corpse of Hamilton—I would 
lift from his gaping wound, his bloody mantle—I would 
hold it up to heaven before them, and I would ask, in the 
name of God, I would ask, whether, at the sight of it, they 
felt no compunction ? 

You will ask, perhaps, what can be done, to arrest the 
progress of a practice which has yet so many advocates? | 
answer, nothing—if it be the deliberate intention to do 
nothing. But, if otherwise, much is within our power. Let, 
then, the governor see that the laws are executed; let the 
council displace the man who offends against their majesty; 
let courts of justice frown from their bar, as unworthy to 


# 





BBY GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


appear before them, the murderer and his accomplices; let 
the people declare him unworthy of their confidence who 


- engages in such sanguinary contests; let this be done, and 


should life still be taken in single combat, then the governor, 
the council, the court, the people, looking up to the Avenger 
of sin, may ask, “‘we are innocent, we are innocent.’ Do 
you ask how proof can be obtained? How can it be 
avoided? ‘The parties return, hold up, before our eyes, the 
instruments of death, publish to the world the circumstances 
of their interview, and even, with an air of insulting tri- 
umph, boast how coolly and deliberately they proceeded in 
violating one of the most sacred laws of earth and heaven! 

Ah! ye tragic shores of Hoboken, crimsoned with the 
richest blood, I tremble at the crimes you record against us 
—the annual register of murders which you keep and send 
up to God! Place of inhuman cruelty! beyond the limits 
of reason, of duty and of religion, where man assumes a 
more barbarous nature, and ceases to be man. What poign- 
ant, lingering sorrows do thy lawless combats occasion to 
surviving relatives! Ye who have hearts of pity—ye who 
have experienced the anguish of dissolving friendship— 
who have wept, and still weep, over the mouldering ruins 
of departed kindred, ye can enter into this reflection. 

O thou disconsolate widow! robbed, so cruelly robbed, 
and in so short a time, both of a husband and a son, what 
must be the plentitude of thy sufferings! Could we ap- 
proach thee, gladly would we drop the tear of sympathy, 
and pour into thy bleeding bosom the balm of consolation! 
But how could we comfort her whom God hath not com- 
forted? To His throne, let us lift up our voice and weep. 
O God! if thou art still the widow’s husband, and the father 
of the fatherless, if in the fulness of thy goodness there be 
yet mercies in store for miserable mortals, pity, oh pity this 





THE SIN oF DUELLING Sys 


afflicted mother, and grant that her hapless orphans may 
find a friend, a benefactor, a father, in Thee! On this 
article I have done: may God add His blessing. 

But I have still a claim upon your patience. I cannot 
here repress my feelings, and thus let pass the present op- 
portunity. 

‘‘How are the mighty fallen.”’ And, regardless as we 
are of vulgar deaths, shall not the fall of the mighty affect 
us? A short time since, and he, who is the occasion of our 
sorrows, was the ornament of his country. He stood on an 
eminence, and glory covered him. From that eminence he 
has fallen—suddenly, forever, fallen. His intercourse with 
the living world is now ended; and those, who would here- 
after find him, must seek him in the grave. There, cold and 
lifeless, is the heart which just now was the seat of friend- 
ship. There, dim and sightless, is the eye whose radiant 
and enlivening orb beamed with intelligence; and there, 
closed forever, are those lips, on whose persuasive accents 
we have so often, and so lately, hung with transport! From 
the darkness which rests upon his tomb, there proceeds, me- 
thinks, a light in which it is clearly seen, that those gaudy 
objects, which men pursue, are only phantoms. In this light, 

how dimly shines the splendor of victory; how humble ap- 
pears the majesty of grandeur! The bubble, which seemed 
to have so much solidity, has burst; and we again see, that 
all below the sun is vanity. 

True, the funeral eulogy has been pronounced; the sad 
and solemn procession has moved; the badge of mourning 
has already been decreed, and presently the sculptured mar- 
ble will lift up its front, proud to perpetuate the name of 
Hamilton, and rehearse to the passing traveller his virtues. 
Just tributes of respect! And to the living useful. But to 


ye 
~~ Nh 





334 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


him, mouldering in his narrow and humble habitation, what 
are they? How vain! how unavailing! 

Approach, and behold, while I lift from his sepulchre 
its covering! Ye admirers of his greatness; ye emulous of 
his talents and his fame, approach, and behold him now. 
How pale! How silent! No martial bands admire the adroit- 
ness of his movements: no fascinated throng weep, and melt, 
and tremble, at his eloquence! Amazing change! A shroud! 
a cofin! a narrow, subterraneous cabin! ‘This is all that 
now remains of Hamilton. And is this all that remains of 
him? During a life so transitory, what lasting menument, 
then, can our fondest hopes erect! 

My brethren! we stand on the borders of an awful gulf, 
which is swallowing up all things human. And is there, 
amidst this universal wreck, nothing stable, nothing abiding, 
nothing immortal, on which poor, frail, dying man can 
fasten? Ask the hero, ask the statesman, whose wisdom 
you have been accustomed to revere, and he will tell you. 
He will tell you, did I say? He has already told you, from 
his death-bed, and his illumined spirit still whispers from 
the heavens, with well known eloquence, the solemn admoni- 
tion. 

‘Mortals! hastening to the tomb, and once the compan- 
ions of my pilgrimage, take warning and avoid my errors; 
cultivate the virtues [ have recommended; choose the 
Saviour I have chosen; live disinterestedly; live for immor- 
tality; and would you rescue any thing from final dissolu- 
tion, lay it up in God.” 

Thus speaks, methinks, our deceased benefactor, and 
thus he acted during his last sad hours. To the exclusion 
of every other concern, religion now claims all his thoughts. 
Jesus! Jesus, is now his only hope. The friends of Jesus 
are his friends; the ministers of the altar his companions. 


ge: 





THE SIN OF DUELLING 335 


While these intercede, he listens in awful silence, or in pro- 
found submission whispers his assent. Sensible, deeply sen- 
sible of his sins, he pleads no merit of his own. He repairs 
to the mercy-seat, and there pours out his penitential sor- 
rows—there he solicits pardon. Heaven, it should seem, 
heard and pitied the suppliant’s cries. Disburdened of his 
sorrows, and looking up to God, he exclaims, “Grace, rich 
grace.’ “I have,’ said he, clasping his dying hands, and 
with a faltering tongue, “I have a tender reliance on the 
mercy of God in Christ.” In token of this reliance, and as 
an expression of his faith, he receives the holy sacrament; 
and having done this, his mind becomes tranquil and serene. 
Thus he remains, thoughtful indeed, but unruffled to the 
last, and meets death with an air of dignified composure, 
and with an eye directed to the heavens. 

This last act, more than any other, sheds glory on his 
character. Everything else death effaces. Religion alone 
abides with him on his death-bed. He dies a Christian. 
This is all which can be enrolled of him among the archives 
of eternity. ‘This is all that can make his name great in 
heaven. Let not the sneering infidel persuade you that this 
last act of homage to the Saviour, resulted from an en- 
feebled state of mental faculties, or from perturbation occa- 
sioned by the near approach of death. No; his opinions 
concerning the divine mission of Jesus Christ, and the val- 
idity of the holy scriptures, had long been settled, and set- 
tled after laborious investigation and extensive and deep 
research. These opinions were not concealed. I knew them 
myself. Some of you, who hear me, knew them; and had 
his life been spared, it was his determination to have pub- 
lished them to the world, together with the facts and rea- 
sons on which they were founded. 

At a time when scepticism, shallow and superficial in- 





336 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


deed, but depraved and malignant, is breathing forth its 
pestilential vapor, and polluting, by its unhallowed touch, 
everything divine and sacred; it is consoling to a devout 
mind to reflect, that the great and the wise, and the good 
of all ages, those superior geniuses, whose splendid talents 
have elevated them almost above mortality, and placed 
them next in order to angelic natures—yes, it is consoling 
to a devout mind to reflect, that while dwarfish infidelity 
lifts up its deformed head, and mocks, these illustrious per- 
sonages, though living in different ages, inhabiting different 
countries, nurtured in different schools, destined to different 
pursuits, and differing on various subjects, should all, as if 
touched with an impulse from heaven, agree to vindicate the 
sacredness of Revelation, and present with one accord, their 
learning, their talents and their virtue, on the gospel altar, 
as an offering to Emanuel. 

This is not exaggeration. Who was it, that, over-leap- 
ing the narrow bounds which had hitherto been set to the 
human mind, ranged abroad through the immensity of 
space, discovered and illustrated those laws by which the 
Deity unites, binds and governs all things? Who was it, 
soaring into the sublime of astronomic science, numbered 
the stars of heaven, measured their spheres, and called them 
by their names? It was Newton. But Newton was a Chris- 
tian. Newton, great as he was, received instruction from 
the lips, and laid his honors at the feet of Jesus. Who was 
it that developed the hidden combination, the component 
parts of bodies? Who was it, dissected the animal, ex- 
amined the flower, penetrated the earth, and ranged the 
extent of organic nature? It was Boyle. But Boyle was a 
Christian. Who was it, that lifted the veil which had for 
ages covered the intellectual world, analyzed the human 
mind, defined its powers, and reduced its operations to cer- 


: 
Pe 











THE SIN oF DUELLING 337 


tain and fixed laws? It was Locke. But Locke too was a 
Christian. 

What more shall I say? For time would fail me, to 
speak of Hale, learned in the law; of Addison, admired in 
the schools; of Milton, celebrated among the poets; and of 
Washington, immortal in the field and the cabinet. ‘To this 
catalogue of professing Christians, from among, if I may 
speak so, a higher order of beings, may now be added the 
name of Alexander Hamilton—a name which raises in the 
mind the idea of whatever is great, whatever is splendid, 
whatever is illustrious in human nature; and which is now 
added to a catalogue which might be lengthened——and 
lengthened—and lengthened, with the names of illustrious 
characters, whose lives have blessed society, and whose 
works form a column high as heaven; a column of learning, 
of wisdom, and of greatness, which will stand to future 
ages, an eternal monument of the transcendent talents of 
the advocates of Christianity, when every fugitive leaf 
from the pen of the canting infidel witlings of the day shall 
be swept by the tide of time from the annals of the world, 
and buried with the names of their authors in oblivion. 

To conclude. ‘‘How are the mighty fallen!’ Fallen 
before the desolating hand of death. Alas! the ruins of the 
tomb! ‘The ruins of the tomb are an emblem of the ruins 
of the world; when not as an individual, but a universe, 
already marred by sin and hastening to dissolution, shall 
agonize and die! Directing your thoughts from the one, fix 
them for a moment on the other. Anticipate the concluding 
scene, the final catastrophe of nature: when the sign of the 
Son of man shall be seen in heaven; when the Son of man 
Himself shall appear in the glory of His Father, and send 
forth judgment unto victory. ‘The fiery desolation en- 
velops towns, palaces and fortresses; the heavens pass 





338 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


away! the earth melts! and all those magnificent produc- 
tions of art, which ages, heaped on ages, have reared up, 
are in one awful day reduced to ashes. 

Against the ruins of that day, as well as the ruins of the 
tomb which precede it, the gospel, in the cross of its great 
High Priest, offers you all a sanctuary; a sanctuary secure 
and abiding; a sanctuary, which no lapse of time, nor change 
of circumstances, can destroy. No; neither life nor death. 
No; neither principalittes nor powers. 

Hverything else is fugitive; everything else is mutable; 
everything else will fail you. But this, the citadel of the 
Christian’s hopes, will never fail you. Its base is adamant. 
It is cemented with the richest blood. ‘The ransomed of the 
Lord crowd its portals. E:mbosomed in the dust which it 
encloses, the bodies of the redeemed “rest in hope.” On its 
top dwells the Church of the first born, who in delightful 
response with the angels of light, chant redeeming love. 
Against this citadel the tempest beats, and around it the 
storm rages, and spends its force in vain. Immortal in its 
nature, and incapable of change, it stands, and stands firm, 
amidst the ruins of a mouldering world, and endures for- 
ever. 

Thither fly, ye prisoners of hope!—that when earth, 
air, elements, shall have passed away, secure of existence 
and felicity, you may join with saints in glory, to perpetuate 
the song which lingered on the faltering tongue of Hamil- 
ton, ‘“Grace—rich Grace.”’ 

God grant us this honor. ‘Then shall the measure of 
our joy be full, and to His name shall be the glory in Christ. 


The Expulsive Power of a 
New Affection 


THOMAS CHALMERS 


HOMAS CHALMERS was born at Anstruther, 

Scotland, in 1780, and died at Edinburgh in 1847. 
His first charge was at Kilmany, in Fifeshire, where he 
seems to have been more interested in mathematics than in 
preaching the Gospel. A severe and prolonged illness 
worked a complete change in his pulpit method. His able, 
ethical discourses were now followed by a burning procla- 
mation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified as the true 
inspirer of conduct and the only way of eternal life. His 
near approach to death through a prolonged illness left 
him with the oil of a new consecration upon his mighty 
brow. As Lord Roseberry phrased it in his address at the 
celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of Chalmers’ 
settlement in Glasgow: “An illness lifted him into a higher 
sphere and he soared aloft. “There he remained to the end 
in communion with the divine.” 

In 1815, Chalmers was called to the Tron Church in 
Glasgow, where, and afterwards at St. John’s, he had a 
notable ministry and became a national character. He was 
famous not only for his preaching, but for his experiments 
in Christian philanthropy. In 1823 he took the chair of 
moral philosophy in St. Andrew’s University, and in 1828 
the chair of theology at Edinburgh. In the movements 
which led to the Disruption of 1843 Chalmers was one of 
the leaders of the evangelical party. 

Chalmers was a great topical preacher. He never 
wearies with textual explanations, or references, but drives 
relentlessly forward the chariot of his proposition from the 
very beginning of his sermon. He read closely, and the 
same sermons over and over again, and with a broad Fife- 
shire accent; yet contemporaries describe the effect of his 
preaching as tremendous. When a friend of Chalmers 


aoe 





340 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


expressed his surprise to a country woman of Fife that she 
who hated reading so much should yet be so fond of 
Chalmers, the woman responded: ‘Nae doubt! but it’s 
fell readin’ thon!” 

His sermon on the “Expulsive Power of a New Affec- 
tion” is a noble utterance, worthy of the fame which it 
has secured. It is celebrated, not only for the truth which 
it unfolds, but also for its beautiful and imaginative climax. 





The Expulsive Power of a New Affection 


“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the 
world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father 


is not in him” (1 John 2:15). 


HERE are two ways in which a practical moralist 

may attempt to displace from the human heart its 

love of the world—either by a demonstration of the 
world’s vanity, so as that the heart shall be prevailed upon 
simply to withdraw its regards from an object that is not 
worthy of it; or, by setting forth another object, even God, 
as more worthy of its attachment, so as that the heart shall 
be prevailed upon not to resign an old affection, which shall 
have nothing to succeed it, but to exchange an old affection 
for anew one. My purpose is to show, that from the con- 
stitution of our nature, the former method is altogether in- 
competent and ineffectual—and that the latter method will 
alone suffice for the rescue and recovery of the heart from 
the wrong affection that domineers over it. After having 
accomplished this purpose, I shall attempt a few practical 
observations. 

The ascendant power of a second affection will do, what 
no exposition, however forcible, of the folly and worthless- 
ness of the first, ever could effectuate. And it is the same in 
the great world. You never will be able to arrest any of its 
leading pursuits, by a naked demonstration of their vanity. 
It is quite in vain to think of stopping one of these pursuits 
in any way else, but by stimulating to another. In attempt- 
ing to bring a worldly man, intent and busied with the 
prosecution of his objects, to a dead stand, you have not 
merely to encounter the charm which he annexes to these 


341 


ae 


, 





342 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


objects—but you have to encounter the pleasure which he 
feels in the very prosecution of them. It is not enough, 
then, that you dissipate the charm, by your moral, and elo- 
quent, and affecting exposure of its illusiveness. You must 
address to the eye of his mind another object, with a charm 
powerful enough to dispossess the first of its influence, and 
to engage him in some other prosecution as full of interest, 
and hope, and congenial activity, as the former. It is this 
which stamps an impotency on all moral and pathetic decla- 
mation about the insignificance of the world. A man will 
no more consent to the misery of being without an object, 
because that object is a trifle, or of being without a pursuit, 
because that pursuit terminates in some frivolous or fugitive 
acquirement, than he will voluntarily submit himself to the 
torture, because that torture is to be of short duration. If 
to be without desire and without exertion altogether, is a 
state of violence and discomfort, then the present desire, 
with its correspondent train of exertion, is not to be got rid 
of simply by destroying it. It must be by substituting 
another desire, and another line or habit of exertion in its 
place—and the most effectual way of withdrawing the mind 
from one subject, is not by turning it away upon desolate 
and unpeopled vacancy—but by presenting to its regards 
another object still more alluring. 

These remarks apply not merely to love considered in 
its state of desire for an object not yet obtained. They 
apply also to love considered in its state of indulgence, or 
placid gratification, with an object already in possession. It 
it seldom that any of our tastes are made to disappear by a 
mere process of natural extinction. At least, it is very sel- 
dom that this is done through the instrumentality of reason- 
ing. It may be done by excessive pampering—but it is 
almost never done by the mere force of mental determina- 


i 





THE EXPULSIVE POWER OF A NEw AFFECTION 343 


tion. But what cannot be thus destroyed, may be dispos- 
sessed—and one taste may be made to give way to another, 
and to lose its power entirely as the reigning affection of the 
mind. It is thus, that the boy ceases, at length, to be the 
slave of his appetite, but it is because a manlier taste has 
now brought it into subordination—and that the youth 
ceases to idolize pleasure, but it is because the idol of wealth 
has become the stronger and gotten the ascendency—and 
that even the love of money ceases to have the mastery over 
the heart of many a thriving citizen, but it is because drawn 
into the whirl of city politics, another affection has been 
wrought into his moral system, and he is now lorded over 
by the love of power. There is not one of these transforma- 
tions in which the heart is left without an object. Its desire 
for one particular object may be conquered; but as to its 
desire for having some one object or other, this is un- 
conquerable. Its adhesion to that on which it has fastened 
the preference of its regards, cannot willingly be overcome 
by the rending away of a simple separation. It can be done 
only by the application of something else, to which it may 
feel the adhesion of a still stronger and more powerful 
preference. Such is the grasping tendency of the human 
heart, that it must have a something to lay hold of—and 
which, if wrested away without the substitution of another 
something in its place, would leave a void and a vacancy as 
painful to the mind, as hunger is to the natural system. It 
may be dispossessed of one object, or of any, but it cannot 
be desolated of all. Let there be a breathing and a sensi- 
tive heart, but without a liking and without affinity to any 
of the things that are around it, and in a state of cheerless 
abandonment, it would have to be alive to nothing but the 
burden of its own consciousness, and feel it to be intoler- 
able. It would make no difference to its owner, whether he 


ee, 


= 





344 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


dwelt in the midst of a gay and goodly world, or placed 
afar beyond the outskirts of creation, he dwelt a solitary 
unit in dark and unpeopled nothingness. ‘he heart must 
have something to cling to—and never, by its own voluntary 
consent, will it so denude itself of all its attachments, that 
there shall not be one remaining object that can draw or 
solicit it. 

The misery of a heart thus bereft of all relish for that 
which wont to minister enjoyment, is strikingly exemplified 
in those, who, satiated with indulgence, have been so be- 
laboured, as it were, with the variety and the poignancy of 
the pleasurable sensations that they have experienced, that 
they are at length fatigued out of all capacity for sensation 
whatever. ‘The disease of ennui is more frequent in the 
French metropolis, where amusement is more exclusively the 


'occupation of higher classes, than it is in the British metrop- 


olis, where the longings of the heart are more diversified by 
the resources of business and politics. “here are the vot- 
aries of fashion, who, in this way, have at length become 
the victims of fashionable excess—in whom the very multi- 
tude of their enjoyments has at last extinguished their 
power of enjoyment—who, with the gratifications of art 
and nature at command, now look upon all that is around 
them with an eye of tastelessness—who, plied with the de- 
lights of sense and of splendour even to weariness, and in- 
capable of higher delights, have come to the end of all their 
perfection, and like Solomon of old, found it to be vanity 
and vexation. [he man whose heart has thus been turned 
into a desert, can vouch for the insupportable languor which 
must ensue, when one affection is thus plucked away from 
the bosom, without another to replace it. It is not neces- 
sary that a man receive pain from any thing, in order to be- 
come miserable. It is barely enough that he looks with dis- 








THE EXPULSIVE POWER OF A NEW AFFECTION 345 
taste to everything—and in that asylum which is the reposi- 
tory of minds out of joint, and where the organ of feeling 
as well as the organ of intellect, has been impaired, it is not 
in the cell of loud and frantic outcries where you will meet 
with the acme of mental suffering. But that is the indi- 
vidual who outpeers in wretchedness all his fellows, who 
throughout the whole expanse of nature and society, meets 
not an object that has at all the power to detain or to inter- 
est him; who neither in earth beneath, nor in heaven above, 
knows of a single charm to which his heart can send forth 
one desirous or responding movement; to whom the world, 
in his eye a vast and empty desolation, has left him nothing 
but his own consciousness to feed upon—dead to all that is 
without him, and alive to nothing but to the load of his own 
torpid and useless existence. 

It will now be seen, perhaps, why it is that the heart 
keeps by its present affections with so much tenacity—when 
the attempt is to do them away by a mere process of extirpa- 
tion. It will not consent to be so desolated. The strong 
man, whose dwelling-place is there, may be compelled to 
give way to another occupier—but unless another stronger 
than he, has power to dispossess and to succeed him, he will 

) keep his present lodgment inviolable. ‘The heart would re- 
volt against its own emptiness. It could not bear to be so 
left in a state of waste and cheerless insipidity. The moral- 
ist who tries such a process of dispossession as this upon the 
heart, is thwarted at every step by the recoil of its own 
mechanism. You have all heard that Nature abhors a 
vacuum. Such at least is the nature of the heart, that 
though the room which is in it may change one inmate for 
another, it cannot be left void without the pain of most 
intolerable suffering. It is not enough then to argue the 
folly of an existing affection. It is not enough, in the 


* 


nas me 





346 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WoRLD 


terms of a forcible or an affecting demonstration, to make 
good the evanescence of its object. It may not even be 
enough to associate the threats and terrors of some coming 
vengeance, with the indulgence of it. ‘The heart may still 
resist the every application, by obedience to which it would 
finally be conducted to a state so much at war with all its 
appetites as that of downright inanition. So to tear away 
an affection from the heart, as to leave it bare of all its 
regards, and of all its preferences, were a hard and hope- 
less undertaking — and it would appear as if the alone 
powerful engine of dispossession were to bring the mastery 
of another affection to bear upon it. 

We know not a more sweeping interdict upon the affec- 
tions of Nature, than that which is delivered by the Apostle 
in the verse before us. To bid a man into whom there is 
not yet entered the great and ascendent influence of the 
principle of regeneration, to bid him withdraw his love 
from all the things that are in the world, is to bid him give 
up all the affections that are in his heart. The world is the 
all of a natural man. He has not a taste, nor a desire, that 
points not to a something placed within the confines of its 
visible horizon. He loves nothing above it, and he cares 
for nothing beyond it; and to bid him love not the world 
is to pass a sentence of expulsion on all the inmates of his 
bosom. To estimate the magnitude and the difficulty of 
such a surrender, let us only think that it were just as ardu- 
ous to prevail on him not to love wealth, which is but one 
of the things in the world, as to prevail on him to set wilful 
fire to his own property. This he might do with sore and 
painful reluctance, if he saw that the salvation of his life 
hung upon it. But this he would do willingly, if he saw 
that a new property of tenfold value was instantly to emerge 
from the wreck of the old one. In this case there is some- 


o~ 





THE EXPULSIVE POWER OF A NEw AFFECTION 347 


thing more than the mere displacement of an affection. 
There is the overbearing of one affection by another. But 
to desolate his heart of all love for the things of the world, 
without the substitution of any love in its place, were to him 
a process of as unnatural violence, as to destroy all the 
things he has in the world, and give him nothing in their 
room. So that, if to love not the world be indispensable to 
one’s Christianity, then the crucifixion of the old man is not 
too strong a term to mark that transition in his history, 
when all old things are done away, and all things are become 
new. 

We hope that by this time, you understand the im- 
potency of a mere demonstration of this world’s insignif- 
cance. Its sole practical effect, if it had any, would be to 
leave the heart in a state which to every heart is insupport- 
able, and that is a mere state of nakedness and negation. 
You may remember the fond and unbroken tenacity with 
which your heart has often recurred to pursuits, over the 
utter frivolity of which it sighed and wept but yesterday. 
The arithmetic of your short-lived days, may on Sabbath 
make the clearest impression upon your understanding— 
and from his fancied bed of death, may the preacher cause 
a voice to descend in rebuke and mockery on all the pursuits 
of earthliness—and as he pictures before you the fleeting 
generations of men, with the absorbing grave, whither all 
the joys and interests of the world hasten to their sure and 
speedy oblivion, may you, touched and solemnized by his 
argument, feel for a moment as if on the eve of a practical 
and permanent emancipation from a scene of so much van- 
ity. But the morrow comes, and the business of the world, 
and the objects of the world, and the moving forces of the 
world come along with it—and the machinery of the heart, 
in virtue of which it must have something to grasp, or some- 


_S 


ao 





348 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


thing to adhere to, brings it under a kind of moral necessity 
to be actuated just as before—and in utter repulsion 
towards a state so unkindly as that of being frozen out both 
of delight and desire, does it feel all the warmth and the 
urgency of its wonted solicitations—nor in the habit and 
history of the whole man, can we detect so much as one 
symptom of the new creature—so that the church, instead 
of being to him a school of obedience, has been a mere 
sauntering place for the luxury of a passing and theatrical 
emotion; and the preaching which is mighty to compel the 
attendance of multitudes, which is mighty to still and to 
solemnize the hearers into a kind of tragic sensibility, which 
is mighty in the play of variety and vigour that it can keep 
up around the imagination, is not mighty to the pulling 
down of strong-holds. 

The love of the world cannot be expurgated by a mere 
demonstration of the world’s worthlessness. But may it not 
be supplanted by the love of that which is more worthy than 
itself? ‘he heart cannot be prevailed upon to part with 
the world, by a simple act of resignation. But may not the 
heart be prevailed upon to admit into its preference another, 
who shall subordinate the world, and bring it down from its 
wonted ascendency? If the throne which is placed there, 
must have an occupier, and the tyrant that now reigns has 
occupied it wrongfully, he may not leave a bosom which 
would rather detain him than be left in desolation. But 
may he not give way to the lawful sovereign, appearing 
with every charm that can secure his willing admittance, 
and taking unto himself his great power to subdue the moral 
nature of man, and to reign over it? Ina word, if the way 
to disengage the heart from the positive love of one great 
and ascendent object, is to fasten it in positive love to 
another, then it is not by exposing the worthlessness of the 





\ 





THE EXPuULSIVE PowER OF ANEW AFFECTION 349 


former, but by addressing to the mental eye the worth and 
excellence of the latter, that all old things are to be done 
away, and all things are to become new. 

To obliterate all our present affections, by simply ex- 
punging them, and so as to leave the seat of them unoccu- 
pied, would be to destroy the old character, and to substitute 
no new character in its place.- But when they take their 
departure upon the ingress of other visitors; when they 
resign their sway to the power and the predominance of 
new affections; when, abandoning the heart to solitude, they 
merely give place to a successor who turns it into as busy a 
residence of desire, and interest, and expectation as before 
—there is nothing in all this to thwart or to overbear any 
of the laws of our sentient nature—and we see how, in 
fullest accordance with the mechanism of the heart, a great 
moral revolution may be made to take place upon it. 

This, we trust, will explain the operation of that charm 
which accompanies the effectual preaching of the gospel. 
The love of God, and the love of the world, are two affec- 
tions, not merely in a state of rivalship, but in a state of 
enmity—and that so irreconcilable that they cannot dwell 
together in the same bosom. We have already afirmed how 
impossible it were for the heart, by any innate elasticity of 
its own, to cast the world away from it, and thus reduce 
itself to a wilderness. The heart is not so constituted, and 
the only way to dispossess it of an old affection is by the 
expulsive power of a new one. Nothing can exceed the 
magnitude of the required change in a man’s character— 
when bidden as he is in the New Testament, to love not the 
world; no, nor any of the things that are in the world—for 
this so comprehends all that is dear to him in existence as 
to be equivalent to a command of self-annihilation. But 
the same revelation which dictates so mighty an obedience, 





350 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


places within our reach as mighty an instrument of obe- 
dience. It brings for admittance, to the very door of our 
heart, an affection which, once seated upon its throne, will 
either subordinate every previous inmate, or bid it away. 
Beside the world, it places before the eye of the mind, him 
who made the world, and with this peculiarity, which is all 
its own—that in the Gospel do we so behold God, as that 
we may love God. It is there, and there only, where God 
stands revealed as an object of confidence to sinners—and 
where our desire after him is not chilled into apathy, by 
that barrier of human guilt which intercepts every approach 
that is not made to him through the appointed Mediator. 
It is the bringing in of this better hope, whereby we draw 
nigh unto God—and to live without hope is to live without 
God, and if the heart be without God, the world will then 
have all the ascendency. It is God apprehended by the 
believer as God in Christ, who alone can depose it from this 
ascendency. It is when he stands dismantled of the terrors 
which belong to him as an offended lawgiver, and when we 
are enabled by faith, which is his own gift, to see his glory 
in the face of Jesus Christ, and to hear his beseeching voice, 
as it protests good will to men, and entreats the return of 
all who will to a full pardon, and a gracious acceptance— 
it is then, that a love paramount to the love of the world, 
and at length expulsive of it, first arises in the regenerating 
bosom. It is when released from the spirit of bondage, with 
which love cannot dwell, and when admitted into the number 
of God’s children, through the faith that is in Christ Jesus, 
the spirit of adoption is poured upon us—it is then that the 
heart, brought under the mastery of one great and pre- 
dominant affection, is delivered from the tyranny of its 
former desires, and in the only way in which deliverance is 
possible. And that faith which is revealed to us from 








THE EXPULSIVE POWER OF A NEw AFFECTION 351 


heaven, as indispensable to a sinner’s justification in the 
sight of God, is also the instrument of the greatest of all 
moral and spiritual achievements on a nature dead to the 
influence, and beyond the reach of every other application. 
Thus may we come to perceive what it is that makes the 
most effective kind of preaching. It is not enough to hold 
out to the world’s eye the mirror of its own imperfections. 
It is not enough to come forth with a demonstration, how- 
ever pathetic, of the evanescent character of all its enjoy- 
ments. It is not enough to travel the walk of experience 
along with you, and speak to your own conscience, and your 
own recollection of the deceitfulness of the heart, and the 
deceitfulness of all that the heart is set upon. ‘There is 
many a bearer of the Gospel message, who has not shrewd- 
ness of natural discernment enough, and who has not power 
of characteristic description enough, and who has not the 
talent of moral delineation enough, to present you with a 
vivid and faithful sketch of the existing follies of society. 
But that very corruption which he has not the faculty of 
representing in its visible details, he may practically be the 
instrument of eradicating in its principle. Let him be but 
a faithful expounder of the gospel testimony. Unable as 
may be to apply a descriptive hand to the character of the 
present world, let him but report with accuracy the matter 
which revelation has brought to him from a distant world, 
—unskilled as he is in the work of so anatomizing the heart, 
as with the power of a novelist to create a graphical or im- 
pressive exhibition of the worthlessness of its many affec- 
tions—let him only deal in those mysteries of peculiar doc- 
trine, on which the best of novelists have thrown the wan- 
tonness of their derision. He may not be able, with the 
eye of shrewd and satirical observation, to expose to the 
\ ready recognition of his hearers the desires of worldliness— 





352 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


but with the tidings of the gospel in commission, he may 
wield the only engine that can extirpate them. He cannot 
do what some have done, when, as if by the hand of a 
magician, they have brought out to view, from the hidden 
recesses of our nature, the foibles and lurking appetites 
which belong to it. But he has a truth in his possession, 
which into whatever heart it enters, will, like the rod of 
Aaron, swallow up them all—and unqualified as he may be 
to describe the old man in all the nicer shading of his nat- 
ural and constitutional varieties, with him is deposited that 
ascendent influence under which the leading tastes and ten- 
dencies of the old man are destroyed, and he becomes a new 
creature in Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Let us not cease, then, to ply the only instrument of 
powerful and positive operation, to do away from you the 
love of the world. Let us try every legitimate method of 
finding access to your hearts for the love of him who is 
greater than the world. For this purpose, let us, if possi- 
ble, clear away that shroud of unbelief which so hides and 
darkens the face of the Deity. Let us insist on his claims to 
your aftection—and whether in the shape of gratitude, or 
in the shape of esteem, let us never cease to affirm, that in 
the whole of that wondrous economy, the purpose of which 
is to reclaim a sinful world unto himself—he, the God of 
love, so sets himself forth in characters of endearment, 
that naught but faith, and naught but understanding, are 
wanting, on your part, to call forth the love of your hearts 
back again. 

Now, it is altogether worthy of being remarked of those 


men who disrelish spiritual Christianity, and, in fact, deem 


it an impracticable acquirement, how much of a piece their 
incredulity about the demands of Christianity, and their in- 
credulity about the doctrines of Christianity, are with one 


n 





THE EXPULSIVE POWER OF A NEw AFFECTION 353 


another. No wonder that they feel the work of the New 
Testament to be beyond their strength, so long as they hold 
the words of the New Testament to be beneath their atten- 
tion. Neither they nor any one else can dispossess the heart 
of an old affection, but by the impulsive power of a new one 
—and, if that new affection be the love of God, neither they 
nor any one else can be made to entertain it, but on such a 
representation of the Deity as shall draw the heart of the 
sinner towards him. Now it is just their unbelief which 
screens from the discernment of their minds this representa- 
tion. They do not see the love of God in sending his Son 
into the world. ‘They do not see the expression of his ten- 
derness to men, in sparing him not, but giving him up unto 
the death for us all. They do not see the sufficiency of the 
atonement, or of the sufferings that were endured by him 
who bore the burden that sinners should have borne. They 
do not see the blended holiness and compassion of the God- 
head, in that he passed by the transgressions of his crea- 
tures, yet could not pass them by without an expiation. It is 
a mystery to them, how a man should pass to the state of 
godliness from a state of nature—but had they only a be- 
lieving view of God manifest in the flesh, this would resolve 
for them the whole mystery of godliness. As it is, they 
cannot get quit of their old affections, because they are out 
of sight from all those truths which have influence to raise a 
new one. They are like the children of Israel in the land of 
Egypt, when required to make bricks without straw—they 
cannot love God, while they want the only food which can 
aliment this affection in a sinner’s bosom—and however 
great their errors may be both in resisting the demands of 
the Gospel as impracticable, and in rejecting the doctrines 
of the Gospel as inadmissible, yet there is not a spiritual 
man (and it is the prerogative of him who 1s spiritual to 





354 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


judge all men) who will not perceive that there is a con- 
sistency in these errors. 

But if there be a consistency in the errors, in like manner 
is there a consistency in the truths which are opposite to 
them. The man who believes in the peculiar doctrines, will 
readily bow to the peculiar demands of Christianity. When 
he is told to love God supremely, this may startle another, 
but it will not startle him to whom God has been revealed 
in peace, and in pardon, and in all the freeness of an offered 
reconciliation. When told to shut out the world from his 
heart, this may be impossible with him who has nothing to 
replace it—but not impossible with him who has found in 
God a sure and satisfying portion. When told to withdraw 
his affections from the things that are beneath, this were 
laying an order of self-extinction upon the man, who knows 
not another quarter in the whole sphere of his contempla- 
tion, to which he could transfer them—but it were not 
grievous to him whose view has been opened up to the love- 
liness and glory of the things that are above, and can there 
find, for ever feeling of his soul, a most ample and delighted 
occupation. When told to look not to the things that are 
seen and temporal, this were blotting out the light of all 
that is visible from the prospect of him in whose eye there 
is a wall of partition between guilty nature and the joys of 
eternity—but he who believes that Christ hath broken down 
this wall finds a gathering radiance upon his soul, as he 
looks onward in faith to the things that are unseen and 
eternal. 

The object of the Gospel is both to pacify the sinner’s 
conscience and to purify his heart; and it is of importance 
to observe that what mars the one of these objects mars 
the other also. The best way of casting out an impure affec- 
tion is to admit a pure one; and by the love of what is good, 





THe ExpuLsivE Power oF A NEw AFFECTION 355 


to expel the love of what is evil. Thus it is, that the freer 
the Gospel, the more sanctifying is the Gospel; and the more 
it is received as a doctrine of grace, the more will it be 
felt as a doctrine according to godliness. ‘This is one of 
the secrets of the Christian life, that the more a man holds 
of God as a pensioner, the greater is the payment of service 
that he renders back again. On the tenure of “Do this and 
live,’ a spirit of fearfulness is sure to enter; and the 
jealousies of a legal bargain chase away all confidence from 
the intercourse between God and man; and the creature 
striving to be square and even with his Creator, is, in fact, 
pursuing all the while his own selfishness instead of God’s 
glory; and with all the conformities which he labours to 
accomplish, the soul of obedience is not there, the mind is 
not subject to the law of God, nor indeed under such an 
economy ever can be. It is only when, as in the Gospel, 
acceptance is bestowed as a present, without money and 
without price, that the security which man feels in God is 
placed beyond the reach of disturbance—or, that he can 
repose in him, as one friend reposes in another—or, ‘that 
any liberal and generous understanding can be established 
betwixt them—the one party rejoicing over the other to do 
him good—the other finding that the truest gladness of his 
heart lies in the impulse of a gratitude, by which it is awak- 
ened to the charms of a new moral existence. Salvation by 
grace—salvation by free grace—salvation not of works, 
but according to the mercy of God—salvation on such a 
footing is not more indispensable to the deliverance of our 
persons from the hand of justice, than it is to the deliver- 
ance of our hearts from the chill and the weight of ungodli- 
ness. Retain a single shred or fragment of legality with the 
Gospel, and you raise a topic of distrust between man and 
God. You take away from the power of the Gospel to melt 








356 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


and to conciliate. For this purpose, the freer it is, the 
better it is. And never does the sinner find within himself 
so mighty a moral transformation, as when under the belief 
that he is saved by grace, he feels constrained thereby to 
offer his heart a devoted thing, and to deny ungodliness. 

To do any work in the best manner, you would make 
use of the fittest tools for it. And we trust that what has 
been said may serve in some degree for the practical guid- 
ance of those who would like to reach the great moral 
achievement of our text—but feel that the tendencies and 
desires of Nature are too strong for them. We know of 
no other way by which to keep the love of the world out of 
our heart than to keep in our hearts the love of God—and 
no other way by which to keep our hearts in the love of 
- God than building ourselves up on our most holy faith. 
That denial of the world which is not possible to him that 
dissents from the Gospel testimony, is possible, even as all 
things are possible to him that believeth. To try this with- 
out faith is to work without the right tool or the right 
instrument. But faith worketh by love; and the way of ex- 
pelling from the heart the love that transgresseth the law 
is to admit into its receptacles the love which fulfilleth the 
law. 

Conceive a man to be standing on the margin of this 
green world; and that, when he looked towards it, he saw 
abundance smiling upon every field, and all the blessings 
which earth can afford, scattered in profusion throughout 
every family, and the light of the sun sweetly resting upon 
all the pleasant habitations, and the joys of human com- 
panionship brightening many a happy circle of society— 
conceive this to be the general character of the scene upon 
one side of his contemplation; and that on the other, be- 
yond the verge of the goodly planet on which he was situ- 


qT 





THE EXPuULSIVE PoWER OF ANEW AFFECTION 357 


ated, he could descry nothing but a dark and fathomless 
unknown. Think you that he would bid a voluntary adieu 
to all the brightness and all the beauty that were before him 
upon earth, and commit himself to the frightful solitude 
away fromit? Would he leave its peopled dwelling places, 
and become a solitary wanderer through the fields of 
nonentity? If space offered him nothing but a wilderness, 
would he for it abandon the homebred scenes of life and of 
cheerfulness that lay so near, and exerted such a power of 
urgency to detain him? Would not he cling to the regions 


of sense, and of life, and of society ?—and shrinking away 


from the desolation that was beyond it, would not he be 
glad to keep his firm footing on the territory of this world, 
and to take shelter under the silver canopy that was 
stretched over it? 

But if, during the time of his contemplation, some happy 
island of the blest had floated by; and there had burst upon 
his senses the light of its surpassing glories, and its sounds 
of sweeter melody; and he clearly saw that there a purer 
beauty rested upon every field, and a more heart-felt joy 
spread itself among all the families; and he could discern 
there a peace, and a piety, and a benevolence, which put a 
moral gladness into every bosom, and united the whole 
society in one rejoicing sympathy with each other, and with 
the beneficent Father of them all—could he further see that 
pain and mortality were there unknown; and above all, that 
signals of welcome were hung out, and an avenue of com- 
munication was made for him—perceive you not that what 
was before the wilderness, would become the land of invita- 
tion; and that now the world would be the wilderness? 
What unpeopled space could not do, can be done by space 
teeming with beatific scenes and beatific society. And let 





358 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


the existing tendencies of the heart be what they may to the 
scene that is near and visible around us, still if another stood 
revealed to the prospect of man, either through the chan- 
nel of faith, or through the channel of his senses—then, 
without violence done to the constitution of his moral na- 
ture, may he die unto the present world, and live to the 
lovelier world that stands in the distance away from it. 


Preparation for Consulting 
the Oracles of God 





EDWARD IRVING 


DWARD IRVING was born on August 4, 1792, at 

Annan, Scotland, and died at Glasgow on December 
7, 1834. His career was one of the most brilliant and 
most pathetic in the annals of the Christian pulpit. For 
some years after he had finished his course at Edinburgh, 
Irving was without a charge. No congregation seems to 
have cared for him or to have had any idea that in the 
strange preacher who appeared before them was the man 
who was destined to become the pulpit voice of London 
and to whose genius the princes of the world of thought 
and expression would bring their unstinted tributes. 
Chalmers gave him his chance as an assistant in Glasgow, 
and from there he was called to the broken-down chapel in 
Hatton Garden, where the London crowds were soon 
fighting for admission to his church. “The unusual thing 
about Irving was that he had not only the praise of the 
common people who heard him gladly, but the high regard 
of the chief intellectuals of his day and generation. Both 
Irving and his friend, Thomas Carlyle, were from Annan- 
dale, and one day, on one of their seashore walks, Irving 
said to Carlyle: “You will see now; one day we will shake 
hands across the brook, you as first in literature, I as first 
in divinity, and people will say, ‘Both these fellows are 
from Annandale. Where is Annandale?” This prophecy 
came true. Both men scaled the heights of fame; both, 
especially the first in divinity, tasted the sorrows of Geth- 
semane. Never was preacher so praised by the mighty men 
of words and thought. Carlyle said of his sermons, “Grand 
forest avenues of his with their multifarious outlooks to 
right and left.” De Quincey declared him “by many 
degrees the greatest orator of our times—the only man of. 
our times who realised one’s idea of Paul preaching at 
Athens or defending himself before Agrippa.’ His friend 


359 





360 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


and contemporary, Chalmers, refers to the obscurity and 
extravagance of his prophetic discourses which got all 
Edinburgh out of bed before daylight, but adds, ““But now 
and then gleams of exquisite beauty.” 

Irving’s fame was shaken by his excursion into prophecy, 
millennialism and the gift of tongues. He was deposed 
from the ministry on the charge of heresy concerning the 
sinlessness of our Lord’s human nature, having declared 
that Christ assumed, not unfallen humanity in Adam, but 
fallen human nature. His last years were a slow martyr- 
dom, his fame clouded, his great throngs departed, and he 
himself a subordinate figure in the ‘‘Apostolic’’ Church 
which he founded. At the age of forty-three, he died recit- 
ing the Twenty-third Psalm in the Hebrew tongue, and 
was buried in the crypt of Glasgow Cathedral. 

Perhaps his most celebrated sermons were those on the 
Oracles. ‘The sermon which follows is a grand tribute to 
the place and authority of the Holy Scriptures. In the 
whole literature of homiletics few sermons sustain for so 
long a period of time the grand and sublime note which 
Irving strikes in these discourses on the Oracles. In his 
sermon on David, Irving gives the best account of himself: 
“The form of his character was vast; the scope of his life 
was immense. Such oceans of affection lay within his breast 
as could not always slumber in the breast of a hundred 
men, yet here struggled together in the narrow continent 
of one single heart.” 


Preparation for Consulting the 


Oracles of God 
“Search the Scriptures” (John 5:39). 


HERE was a time when each revelation of the word 

of God had an introduction into this earth, which 

neither permitted men to doubt whence it came, nor 
wherefore it was sent. If at the giving of each several 
truth a star was not lighted in heaven, as at the birth of the 
Prince of Truth, there was done upon the earth a wonder, 
to make her children listen to the message of their Maker. 
The Almighty made bare His arm; and, through mighty 
acts shown by His holy servants, gave demonstration of 
His truth, and found for it a sure place among the other 
matters of human knowledge and belief. 

But now the miracles of God have ceased, and nature, 
secure and unmolested, is no longer called on for testimon- 
ies to her Creator’s voice. No burning bush draws the foot- 
steps to His presence-chamber; no invisible voice holds the 
ear awake; no hand cometh forth from the obscurity to 
write His purposes in letters of flame. ‘The vision is shut 
up, and the testimony is sealed, and the word of the Lord 
is ended, and this solitary Volume, with its chapters and 
verses, is the sum total of all for which the chariot of 
heaven made so many visits to the earth, and the Son of 
God Himself tabernacled and dwelt among us. 

The truth which it contains once dwelt undivulged in 
the bosom of God; and, on coming forth to take its place 
among things revealed, the heavens and the earth, and na- 
ture, through all her chambers, gave it reverent welcome. 
Beyond what it contains, the mysteries of the future are un- 


361 





362 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


known. To gain it acceptation and currency, the noble com- 
pany of martyrs testified unto the death. ‘The general as- 
sembly of the first-born in heaven made it the day-star of 
their hopes, and the pavilion of their peace. Its every sen- 
tence is charmed with the power of God, and powerful to 
the everlasting salvation of souls. 

Having our minds filled with these thoughts of the 
primeval divinity of Wisdom when she dwelt in the bosom 
of God, and was of His eternal Self a part, long before He 
prepared the heavens, or set a compass upon the face of 
the deep; revolving also, how, by the space of four thou- 
sand years, every faculty of mute Nature did solemn 
obeisance to this daughter of the divine mind, whenever He 
pleased to commission her forth to the help of mortals; and 
further meditating upon the delights which she had of old 
with the sons of men, the height of heavenly temper to 
which she raised them and the offspring of magnanimous 
deeds which these two—the wisdom of God, and the soul 
of man—did engender between themselves—meditation, I 
say, upon these mighty topics, our soul is smitten with grief 
and shame to remark how in this latter day, she hath fallen 
from her high estate; and fallen along with her the great 
and noble character of men. Or if there be still a few 
names, as of the missionary martyr, to emulate the saints 
of old—how to the commonalty of Christians her oracles 
have fallen into a household commonness, and her visits 
into a cheap familiarity; while by the multitude she is mis- 
taken for a minister of terror sent to oppress poor mortals 
with moping melancholy, and inflict a wound upon the hap- 
piness of human kind. 

For there is now no express stirring up the faculties to 
meditate her high and heavenly strains—there is no formal 
sequestration of the mind from all other concerns, on pur- 





PREPARATION FOR CONSULTING ORACLES OF Gop 363 


pose for her special entertainment—there is no house of 
solemn seeking and solemn waiting for a spiritual frame, 
before entering and listening to the voice of the Almighty’s 
wisdom. Who feels the sublime dignity there is in a saying | 
fresh descended from the porch of heaven? Who feels the 
awful weight there is in the least iota that hath dropped 
from the lips of God? Who feels the thrilling fear of 
trembling hope there is in words whereon the destinies of 
himself do hang? Who feels the swelling tide of gratitude 
within his breast, for redemption and salvation coming, in- 
stead of flat despair and everlasting retribution? Finally, 
who, in perusing the word of God, is captivated through all 
his faculties, and transported through all his emotions, 
and through all his energies of action wound up? Why, to 
say the best, it is done as other duties are wont to be done; 
and, having reached the rank of a daily, formal duty, the 
perusal of the Word hath reached its noblest place. Yea, 
that which is the guide and spur of all duty, the necessary 
aliment of Christian life, the first and the last of Christian 
knowledge, and Christian feeling hath, to speak the best, 
degenerated in these days to stand rank and file, among 
those duties whereof it is parent, preserver, and commander. 
And, to speak not the best, but the fair and common truth, 
this Book, the offspring of the Divine mind, and the perfec- 
tion of heavenly wisdom, is permitted to lie from day to 
day, perhaps from week to week, unheeded and unperused, 
never welcome to our happy, healthy and energetic moods; 
admitted, if admitted at all, in seasons of sickness, feeble- 
mindedness, and disabling sorrow. Yea, that which was 
sent to be a spirit of ceaseless joy and hope within the heart 
of man, is treated as the enemy of happiness, and the mur- 
derer of enjoyment; and eyed askance, as the remembrancer 
of death, and the very messenger of hell. 





364 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


Oh! if books had but tongues to speak their wrongs, 
then might this Book well exclaim—Hear, O heavens! and 
give ear, O earth! I came from the love and embrace of 
God, and mute Nature, to whom I brought no boon, did 
me rightful homage. To men I come and my words were 
to the children of men. I disclosed to you the mysteries 
of hereafter, and the secrets of the throne of God. I set 
open to you the gates of salvation, and the way of eternal 
life, hitherto unknown. . Nothing in heaven did I withhold 
from your hope and ambition; and upon your earthly lot I 
poured the full horn of Divine providence and consolation. 
But ye requited me with no welcome, ye held no festivity 
on my arrival: ye sequester me from happiness and heroism, 
closeting me with sickness and infirmity: ye make not of 
me, nor use me for, your guide to wisdom and prudence, put 
me into a place in your last of duties, and withdraw me to 
a mere corner of your time; and most of ye set me at naught 
and utterly disregard me. I come, the fullness of the knowl- 
edge of God; angels delighted in my company, and desired 
to dive into my secrets. But ye, mortals, place masters 
over me, subjecting me to the discipline and dogmatism of 
men, and tutoring me in your schools of learning. I came, 
not to be silent in your dwellings, but to speak welfare to 
you and to your children. I came to rule, and my throne 
to set up in the hearts of men. Mine ancient residence was 
the bosom of God; no residence will I have but the soul of 
an immortal; and if you had entertained me, I should have 
possessed you of the peace which I had with God, ‘“‘when 
I was with Him and was daily His delight, rejoicing always 
before Him. Because I have called you and ye have re- 
fused, I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded; 
but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none 
of my reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity, and mock 





PREPARATION FOR CONSULTING ORACLES OF Gop 365 


when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction 
cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh 
upon you. Then shall they cry upon me, but I[ will not 
answer ; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.” 

From this cheap estimation and wanton neglect of God’s 
counsel, and from the terror of this curse consequent 
thereon, we have resolved, in the strength of God, to do 
our endeavor to deliver this congregation of His intelligent 
and worshipping people—an endeavor which we make with 
a full reception of the difficulties to be overcome on every 
side, within no less than without the sacred pale; and upon 
which we enter with the utmost difidence of our powers, yet 
with the full purpose of straining them to the utmost, ac- 
cording to the measure with which it hath pleased God to 
endow our mind. And do thou, O Lord, from whom cometh 
the perception of truth, vouchsafe to Thy servant an unction 
from Thine own Spirit, who searcheth all things, yea, the 
deep things of God; and vouchsafe to [hy people “‘the hear- 
ing ear and the understanding heart, that they may hear and 
understand, and their souls may live!” 

Before the Almighty made His appearance upon Sinai, 
there were awful precursors sent to prepare His way; while 
He abode in sight, there were solemn ceremonies and a strict 
ritual of attendance; when he departed, the whole camp set 
itself to conform unto His revealed will. Likewise, before 
the Saviour appeared, with His better law, there was a 
noble procession of seers and prophets, who decried and 
warned the world of His coming; when He came there 
were solemn announcements in the heavens and on the earth; 
He did not depart without due honors; and then followed, 
on His departure, a succession of changes and alterations 
which are still in progress, and shall continue in progress 
till the world’s end. ‘This may serve to teach us, that a 





366 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


revelation of the Almighty’s will make demand for these 
three things, on the part of those to whom it is revealed: 
A due preparation for receiving it; a diligent attention to 
it while it 1s disclosing; a strict observance of it when it ts 
delivered. 

The preparation for the announcement.—‘When God 
uttereth His voice,’ says the Psalmist, ‘“‘coals of fire are 
kindled; the hills melt down like wax; the earth quakes; and 
deep proclaims itself unto hollow deep.” ‘These sensible 
images of the Creator have now vanished, and we are left 
alone, in the deep recesses of the meditative mind, to dis- 
cern his coming forth. No trump of heaven now speaketh 
in the world’s ear. No angelic conveyancer of Heaven’s will 
taketh shape from the vacant air; and, having done his er- 
rand, retireth into his airy habitation. No human messen- 
ger putteth forth his miraculous hand to heal Nature’s un- 
medicable wounds, winning for his words a silent and aston- 
ished audience. Majesty and might no longer precede the 
oracles of Heaven. ‘They lie silent and unobtrusive, 
wrapped up in their little compass, one Volume among 
many, innocently handed to and fro, having no distinction 
but that in which our mustered thoughts are enabled to in- 
vest them. The want of solemn preparation and circum- 
stantial pomp, the imagination of the mind hath now to sup- 
ply. The presence of the Deity, and the authority of His 
voice, our thoughtful spirits must discern. Conscience must 
supply the terrors that were wont to go before Him; and 
the brightness of His coming, which the sense can no longer 
behold, the heart, ravished with His word, must feel. 

For the solemn vocation of all her powers, to do her 
Maker honor and give Him welcome, it is, at the very 
least, necessary that the soul stand absolved from every call. 
Every foreign influence or authority arising out of the 





PREPARATION FOR CONSULTING ORACLES OF Gop 367 





world, or the things of the world, should be burst when 
about to stand before the Fountain of all authority; every 
argument, every invention, every opinion of man forgot, 
when about to approach the Father and oracle of all intelli- 
gence. And as subjects, when their honors, with invitations, 
are held disengaged, though preoccupied with a thousand 
appointments, so, upon an audience, fixed and about to be 
holden with the King of kings, it will become the honored 
mortal to break loose from all thralldom of men and things, 
and be arrayed in liberty of thought and action to drink in 
the rivers of His pleasure, and to perform the commission 
of His lips. 

Now far otherwise it hath appeared to us, that Chris- 
tians as well as worldly men come to this most august oc- 
cupation of listening to the word of God; preoccupied and 
prepossessed, inclining to it a partial ear, a straitened un- 
derstanding, and a disaffected will. 

The Christian public are prone to preoccupy themselves 
with the admiration of those opinions by which they stand 
distinguished as a Church or sect from other Christians, and 
instead of being quite unfettered to receive the whole coun- 
sel of the divinity, they are prepared to welcome it no fur- 
ther than it bears upon, and stands with opinions which 
they already favor. 

In the train of these comes controversy with his rough 
voice and unmeek aspect, to disqualify the soul for a full 
and fair audience of its Maker’s word. ‘The points of the 
faith we have been called on to defend, or which are reput- 
able with our party, assume, in our esteem, an importance 
disproportionate to their importance in the Word which we 
come to relish chiefly when it goes to sustain them, and the 
Bible is hunted for arguments and texts of controversy, 
which are treasured up for future service. he solemn still- 





368 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


ness which the soul should hold before his Maker, so favor- 
able to meditation and rapt communion with the throne of 
God, is destroyed at every turn by suggestions of what is 
orthodox and evangelical—where all is orthodox and evan- 
gelical; the spirit of such readers becomes lean, being fed 
with abstract truths and formal propositions; their temper 
uncongenial, being ever disturbed with controversial sug- 
gestions; their prayers undevout recitals of their opinions; 
their discourse technical. announcements of their faith. 

For the preoccupations of worldly minds, they are not 
to be reckoned up, being manifold as their favorite passions 
and pursuits. One thing only can be said, that before com- 
ing to the oracles of God they are not preoccupied with the 
expectation and fear of Him. No chord in their heart is 
in unison with things unseen; no moments are set apart for 
religious thought and meditation; no anticipations of the 
honored interview; no prayer of preparation like that of 
Daniel before Gabriel was sent to teach him; no devoutness 
like that of Cornelius before the celestial visitation; no fast- 
ings like that of Peter before the revelation of the glory of 
the Gentiles! Now to minds which are not attuned to holi- 
ness, the words of God find no entrance, striking heavy on 
the ear, seldom making way to the understanding, almost 
never to the heart. To spirits hot with conversation, per- 
haps heady with argument, uncomposed by solemn thought, 
but ruffed and in uproar from the concourse of worldly in- 
terests, the sacred page may be spread out, but its accents 
are drowned in the noise which hath not yet subsided in the 
breast. All the awe, and pathos, and awakened conscious- 
ness of a Divine approach, impressed upon the ancients by 
the procession of solemnities, is to worldly men without a 
substitute. [hey have not solicited themselves to be in 
readiness. In a usual mood, and vulgar frame they come 





PREPARATION FOR CONSULTING ORACLES OF Gop 369 


to God’s Word as to other compositions, reading it with- 
out any active imaginations about Him who speaks; feeling 
no awe of a sovereign Lord, nor care of a tender Father, 
nor devotion to a merciful Saviour. Nowise depressed 
themselves out of their wonted dependence, nor humiliated 
before the King of kings—no prostrations of the soul, nor 
falling at His feet as dead—no exclamation, as of Isaiah, 
‘Woe is me, for I am of unclean lips!’—nor suit ‘Send 
me,’’—nor fervent ejaculation of welcome, as of Samuel, 
“Lord, speak, for Thy servant heareth!”’ Truly they feel 
toward His word much as to the word of an equal. No 
wonder it shall fail of happy influence upon spirits which 
have, as it were on purpose, disqualified themselves for its 
benefits by removing from the regions of thought and feel- 
ing which it accords with, into other regions, which it is of 
too severe dignity to affect, otherwise than with stern men- 
ace and direful foreboding! If they would have it bless 
them and do them good, they must change their manner of 
approaching it, and endeavor to bring themselves into that 
prepared, and collected, and reverential frame which be- 
comes an interview with the High and holy One who in- 
habiteth the praises of eternity. 

Having thus spoken without equivocation, and we hope - 
without offense, to the contradictedness and preoccupation 
with which Christians and worldly men are apt to come to 
the perusal of the Word of God, we shall now set forth the 
two master-feelings under which we shall address ourselves 
to the sacred occupation. 

It is a good custom, inherited from the hallowed days 
of Scottish piety, and in our cottages still preserved, though 
in our cities generally given up, to preface the morning and 
evening worship of the family with a short invocation of 
blessing from the Lord. This is in unison with the practice 








370 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


and recommendation of pious men, never to open the Di- 
vine Word without a silent invocation of the Divine Spirit. 
But no address to Heaven is of any virtue, save as it is the 
expression of certain pious sentiments with which the mind 
is full and overflowing. Of those sentiments which befit the 
mind that comes into conference with its Maker, the first 
and most prominent should be gratitude for His ever hav- 
ing condescended to hold commerce with such wretched and 
fallen creatures. Gratitude not only expressing itself in 
proper terms, but possessing the mind with one abiding and 
over-mastering mood, under which it shall sit impressed 
the whole duration of the interview. Such an emotion as 
can not utter itself in language—though by language it in- 
dicate its presence—but keeps us in a devout and adoring 
frame, while the Lord 1s uttering His voice. 

Go visit a desolate widow with consolation, and help, 
and fatherhood of her orphan children—do it again and 
again, and your presence, the sound of your approaching 
footstep, the soft utterance of your voice, the very mention 
of your name, shall come to dilate her heart with a fullness 
which defies her tongue to utter, but speaking by the tokens 
of a swimming eye, and clasped hands, and fervent ejacula- 
tions to Heaven upon your head! No less copious acknowl- 
edgment of God, the Author of our well-being, and the 
Father of our better hopes, ought we to feel when His 
Word discloseth to us the excess of His love. Though a 
vail be now cast over the Majesty which speaks, it is the 
voice of the Eternal which we hear, coming in soft cadences 
to win our favor, yet omnipotent as the voice of the thun- 
der, and overpowering as the rushing of many waters. And 
though the vail of the future intervene between our hand 
and the promised goods, still are they from His lips who 
speaks and it is done, who commands, and all things stand 





PREPARATION FOR CONSULTING ORACLES OF Gop 371 


fast. With no less emotion, therefore, should this Book 
be opened, than if, like him in the trance, you were into the 
third heaven translated, companying and communing with 
the realities of glory which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
nor the heart of man conceived. 

Far and foreign from such an opened and awakened 
bosom, is that cold and formal hand which is generally laid 
upon the sacred Volume; that unfeeling and unimpressive 
tone with which its accents are pronounced; and that listless 
and incurious ear into which its blessed sounds are received. 
Flow can you, thus unimpassioned, hold communion with 
themes in which everything awful, vital, and endearing meet 
together! Why is not curiosity, curiosity ever hungry, on 
edge to know the doings and intentions of Jehovah, King 
of kings? Why is not interest, interest ever awake, on tip- 
toe to hear the future destiny of itself? Why is not the 
heart that panteth over the world after love and friendship, 
overpowered with the full tide of the Divine acts and ex- 
pressions of love? Where is nature gone when she is not 
moved with the tender mercy of Christ? Methinks the af- 
fections of men are fallen into the yellow leaf. Of the 
poets which charm the world’s ear, who is he that inditeth 
a song unto his God? Some will tune their harps to sensual 
pleasure, and by the enchantment of their genius well-nigh 
commend their unholy themes to the imagination of saints. 
Others to the high and noble sentiments of the heart, will 
sing of domestic joys and happy unions, casting around sor- 
row the radiancy of virtue, and bodying forth, in undying 
forms, the short-lived visions of joy! Others have enrolled 
themselves the high-priests of mute nature’s charms, en- 
chanting her echoes with their minstrelsy, and peopling her 
solitudes with the bright creatures of their fancy. But when, 
since the days of the blind master of English song, hath 





372 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


any poured forth a lay worthy of the Christian theme? Nor 
in philosophy, “‘the palace of the soul,’’ have men been more 
mindful of their Maker. ‘The flowers of the garden, and 
the herbs of the field have their unwearied devotees, cross- 
ing the ocean, wayfaring in the desert, and making devout 
pilgrimages to every region of nature for offerings to their 
patron muse. ‘The rocks, from their residences among the 
clouds, to their deep rests in the dark bowels of the earth, 
have a bold and most venturous priesthood, who see in their 
rough and flinty faces a more delectable image to adore 
than in the revealed countenance of God. And the political 
welfare of the world is a very Moloch, who can at any time 
command his hecatomb of human victims. But the revealed 
suspense of God, to which the harp of David, and the pro- 
phetic lyre of Isaiah were strung, the prudence of God, 
which the wisest of men coveted after, preferring it to 
every gift which Heaven could confer, and the eternal in- 
telligence himself in human form, and the unction of the 
Holy One which abideth—these the common heart of man 
hath forsaken, and refused to be charmed withal. 

I testify, that there ascendeth not from earth a hosan- 
nah of her children to bear witness in the ear of the upper 
regions to the wonderful manifestations of her God! From 
a few scattered hamlets in a small portion of her territory, 
a small voice ascendeth, like the voice of one crying in the 
wilderness. But to the service of our general Preserver 
there is no concourse from Dan unto Beersheba, of our 
people, the greater part of whom, after two thousand 
years of apostolic commission, have not the testimonies of 
our God; and the multitude of those who disrespect or de- 
spise them! 

But, to return from this lamentation, which, may God 
hear, who doth not disregard the cries of His afflicted peo- 


os 





PREPARATION FOR CONSULTING ORACLES OF Gop = 373 


ple! With the full sense of obligation to the giver, combine 
a humble sense of your own incapacity to value and to use 
the gift of His oracles. Having no taste whatever for the 
mean estimates which are made, and the coarse invectives 
that are vented against human nature, which, though true 
in the main, are often in the manner so unfeeling and tri- 
umphant, as to reveal hot zeal rather than tender and deep 
sorrow, we will not give in to this popular strain. And yet 
it is a truth by experience, revealed, that though there be in 
man most noble faculties, and a nature restless after the 
knowledge and truth of things, there are, toward God and 
His revealed will, an indisposition and a regardlessness, 
which the most tender and enlightened consciences are the 
most ready to acknowledge. Of our emancipated youth, 
who, bound after the knowledge of the visible works of 
God, and the gratification of the various instincts of nature, 
how few betake themselves at all, how few absorb them- 
selves with the study and obedience of the word of God! 
And when, by God’s visitation, we address ourselves to the 
task, how slow is our progress and how imperfect our per- 
formance! It is most true that nature is unwilling to the 
subject of the Scriptures. ‘The soul is previously possessed 
with adverse interests; the world hath laid an embargo on 
her faculties, and monopolized them to herself; old habit 
hath perhaps added to his almost incurable callousness; and 
the enemy of God and man is skillful to defend what he 
hath already won. So circumstanced, and every man is so 
circumstanced, we come to the audience of the word of God, 
and listen in worse tune than a wanton to a sermon, or a 
hardened knave to a judicial address. Our understanding 
is prepossessed with a thousand idols of the world, religious 
or irreligious—which corrupt the reading of the word into 
a straining of the text to their service, and when it will not 





374 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


strain, cause it to be skimmed, and perhaps despised or 
hated. Such a thing as a free and unlimited reception of 
all parts of the Scripture into the mind, is a thing most rare 
to be met with, and when met with, will be found the result 
of many a sore submission of nature’s opinions as well as of 
nature’s likings. 

But the word, as hath been said, is not for the intellect 
alone, but for the heart, and for the will. Now if any one 
be so wedded to his own candor as to think he doth accept 
the divine truth unabated, surely no one will flatter himself 
into the belief that his heart is attuned and enlarged for all 
divine commandments. The man who thus misdeems of him- 
self must, if his opinions were just, be a like a sheet of fair 
paper, unblotted and unwritten on; whereas all men are al- 
ready occupied, to the very fullness, with other opinions 
and attachments, and desires than the word reveals. We 
do not grow Christians by the same culture by which we 
grow men, otherwise what need of divine revelation, and 
divine assistance? But being unacquainted from the womb 
with God, and attached to what is seen and felt, through 
early and close acquaintance, we are ignorant and detached 
from what is unseen and unfelt. [he word is a novelty 
to our nature, its truths fresh truths, its affections fresh 
affections, its obedience gathered from the apprehension of 
nature and the commerce of worldly life. Therefore there 
needeth, in one that would be served from this storehouse 
opened by heaven, a disrelish of his old acquisitions, and a 
preference of the new, a simple child-like teachableness, an 
allowance of ignorance and error, with whatever else be- 


seems an anxious learner. Coming to the word of God, we © 


are like children brought into the conversations of experi- 
enced men; and we should humbly listen and reverently in- 
quire; or we are like raw rustics introduced into high and 





PREPARATION FOR CONSULTING ORACLES OF GoD 375 


polished life, and we should unlearn our coarseness, and 
copy the habits of the station; nay we are like offenders 
caught, and for amendment committed to the bosom of 
honorable society, with the power of regaining our lost con- 
dition and inheriting honor and trust—therefore we should 
walk softly and tenderly, covering our former reproach with 
modesty and humbleness, hasting to redeem our reputation 
by distinguished performances, against offense doubly 
guarded, doubly watchful for dangerous and extreme posi- 
tions, to demonstrate our recovered goodness. 

These two sentiments—devout veneration of God for 
His unspeakable gift, and deep distrust of our capacity to 
estimate and use it aright—-will generate in the mind a con- 
stant aspiration after the guidance and instruction of a 
higher power. ‘The first sentiment, of goodness remem- 
bered, emboldening us to draw near to Him who first drew 
near to us, and who with Christ will not refuse us any gift. 
The second sentiment, of weakness remembered, teaching 
us our need, and prompting us by every interest of religion 
and every feeling of helplessness to seek of Him who hath 
said, ‘If any one lack wisdom let him ask of God, who 
giveth liberally and upbraideth not.’ The soul which under 
these two master-feelings cometh to read, shall not read 
without profit. Every new revelation feeding his gratitude 
and nourishing his former ignorance, will confirm the emo- 
tions he is under, and carry them onward to an unlimited 
dimension. Such a one will prosper in the way; enlarge- 
ment of the inner man will be his portion, and establishment 
in the truth his exceeding great reward. ‘‘In the strength 
of the Lord shall his right hand get victory—even in the 
name of the Lord of Hosts. His soul shall also flourish 
with the fruits of righteousness from the seed of the Word, 
which liveth and abideth forever.” 





376 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WoRLD 


Thus delivered from prepossessions of all other mas- 
ters, and arrayed in the raiment of humility and love, the 
soul should advance to the meeting of her God; and she 
should call a muster of all her faculties, and have all her 
poor grace in attendance, anything she knows of His excel- 
lent works and exalted ways she should summon up to her 
remembrance; her understanding she should quicken, her 
memory refresh, her imagination stimulate, her affections 
cherish, and her conscience arouse, All that is within her 
should be stirred up, her whole glory should awake and her 
whole beauty display itself for the meeting of her King. As 
His hand-maiden she should meet Him; His own handi- 
work, though sore defaced, yet seeking restoration; His 
humble, because offending servant—yet nothing slavish, 
though humble—nothing superstitious, though devout— 
nothing tame, though mcdest in her demeanor; but quick 
and ready, all addressed and wound up for her Maker’s 
will. 

How different the ordinary proceeding of Christians, 
who, with timorous, mistrustful spirits; with an abeyance of 
intellect, and a dwarfish reduction of their natural powers, 
enter to the conference of the Word of God! ‘The natural 
powers of man are to be mistrusted, doubtless, as the will- 
ing instruments of the evil one; but they must be honored — 
also as the necessary instruments of the Spirit of God, 
whose operation is a dream, if it be not through knowledge, 
intellect, conscience, and action. Now Christians, heedless 
of the grand resurrection of the mighty instruments of 
thought and action, at the same time coveting hard after 
holy attainment, do often resign the mastery of themselves, 
and are taken into the counsel of the religious world—whirl- 
ing around the eddy of some popular leader—and so 
drifted, I will not say from godliness, but drifted certainly 











PREPARATION FOR CONSULTING ORACLES OF Gop 377 


from that noble, manly, and independent course, which, un- 
der steerage of the Word of God, they might safely have 
pursued for the precious interests of their immortal souls. 
Meanwhile these popular leaders, finding no necessity for 
strenuous endeavors and high science in the ways of God, 
but having a gathering host to follow them, deviate from 
the ways of deep and penetrating thought—refuse the con- 
test with the literary and accomplished enemies of the faith 
—bring contempt upon the cause in which mighty men did 
formerly gird themselves to the combat—and so cast the 
stumbling-block of a mistaken paltriness between enlight- 
ened men and the cross of Christ! So far from this simple- 
mindedness (but its proper name is feeble-mindedness) 
Christians should be—as aforetime in this island they were 
wont to be—the princes of human intellect, the lights of the 
world, the salt of the political and social state. ‘Till they 
come forth from the swaddling-bands, in which foreign 
schools have girt them, and walk boldly upon the high places 
of human understanding, they shall never obtain that in- 
fluence in the upper regions of knowledge and power, of 
which, unfortunately, they have not the apostolic unction 
to be in quest. They will never be the master and command- 
ing spirit of the time, until they cast off the wrinkled and 
withered skin of an obsolete old age, and clothe themselves 
with intelligence as with a garment, and bring forth the 
fruits of power and love and of a sound mind. 

Mistake us not, for we steer in a narrow, very narrow 
channel, with rocks of popular prejudice on every side. 
While we thus invocate to the reading of the Word, the 
highest strains of the human soul, mistake us not as derogat- 
ing from the office of the Spirit of God. Far be it from 
any Christian, much further from any Christian pastor, to 
withdraw from God the honor which is everywhere His 





378 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


due; but there most of all His due where the human mind 
labored alone for thousands of years, and labored with no 
success—viz., the regeneration of itself, and its restoration 
to the lost semblance of the Divinity! Oh! let him be rey- 
erently inquired after, devoutly and most thankfully ac- 
knowledged in every step of progress from the soul’s fresh 
awakening out of his dark, oblivious sleep—even to her ulti- 
mate attainment upon earth and full accomplishment for 
heaven. And that there may be a fuller choir of awakened 
men to advance His honor and glory here on earth, and 
hereafter in heaven above; let the saints bestir themselves 
like angels, and the ministers of religion like archangels 
strong! And now at length let us have a demonstration 
made of all that is noble in thought, and generous in action, 
and devoted in piety, for bestirring this lethargy, and break- 
ing the bonds of hell, and redeeming the whole world to 
the service of its God and King! 


Stewardship 





CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY 


HARLES GRANDISON FINNEY was born in 
1792 at Warren, Connecticut, and died at Oberlin, 
Ohio, in 1875. He studied for the law, but upon his con- 
version entered the ministry and soon became a power in 
the pulpit. He conducted great revivals in America and 
in England. In 1835 he became a professor at Oberlin 
College, Ohio, and in 1852 was chosen president of the 
college. His name is associated with the Oberlin School 
of Theology, which broke with historic Calvinism and 
taught the perfect free will of man, and the possibility of 
attaining unto holiness. “The sermons of Finney in their 
clear cut, matter of fact statements show his logical bent 
and his legal training. “The reader of these sermons will 
wonder that they produced such great effects in the con- 
version of sinners. Finney, however, said that in his 
preaching he threw himself open to the influence of the 
Holy Spirit and even claimed prophetic power. Be that as 
it may, he was mightily used of God in the proclamation of 
the Gospel and thousands found their way into the Church 
through his preaching. His sermon on “Stewardship” is 
a good illustration of his keen, incisive and logical style, 
and is a searching and solemn utterance on the subject of 
man’s accountability, especially in the use of money. 

That Finney was not so calm and subdued in his preach- 
ing as his printed sermons would lead one to suppose, is 
evidenced by contemporary comments on his manner and 
style. For example, a complaint was brought against a 
minister in Troy because he had introduced into his pulpit 
“the notorious Charles G. Finney, whose shocking blas- 
phemies, novel and repulsive sentiments, and theatrical and 
frantic gesticulations, struck horror into those who enter- 
tained any reverence either for religion or decency.”’ One 
of Finney’s famous sermons was on the text, “One Medi- 
ator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus’ 


379 








380 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


(1 Timothy 2:5). Professor Park of Andover Seminary 
heard him preach the sermon there in 1831. He tells how 
the commencement exercises were practically broken up 
and abandoned because everyone crowded to the church 
to hear the celebrated Finney. Professor Park describes 
his discourse as one which could never be printed and not 
easily forgotten. At the end of a dramatic passage in 
which Finney described the sorrows of the lost and the 
music of heaven, Professor Park says that the board 
stretched across the aisle on which he and five or six 
men were sitting, actually shook beneath them, because of 
the vibrations of emotions produced by the preacher. 





Stewardship 


“Give an account of thy stewardship” (Luke 16:2). 


STEWARD is one who is employed to transact the 
business of another, as his agent or representative 
in the business in which he is employed. 

His duty is to promote, in the best possible manner, the 
interest of his employer. He is liable, at any time, to be 
called to an account for the manner in which he has trans- 

- acted his business, and to be removed from his office at the 
pleasure of his employer. 

One important design of the parable of which the text 
is a part is to teach that all men are God’s stewards. ‘The 
Bible declares that the silver and the gold are his, and that 
he is, in the highest possible sense, the proprietor of the 
universe. Men are mere stewards, employed by him for 
the transaction of his business, and required to do all they 
do for his glory. Even their eating and drinking are to be 
done for his glory, 7. e. that they be strengthened for the 
best performance of his business. 

That men are God’s stewards, is evident from the fact 
that God treats them as such, and removes them at his 
pleasure, and disposes of the property in their hands, which 
he could not do, did he not consider them merely his agents, 
and not the owners of the property. 

1. If men are God’s stewards, they are bound to ac- 
count to him for their time. God has created them and 
keeps them alive and their time is his. Hearer, should you 
employ a steward and pay him for his time, would you not 
expect him to employ that time in your service? Would 
you not consider it fraud and dishonesty, for him, while in 


381 


, 





382 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


your pay, to spend his time in idleness, or in promoting his 
private interests? Suppose he were often idle, that would 
be bad enough; but suppose that he wholly neglected your 
business, and that, when called to an account, and censured 
for not doing his duty, he should say, ‘““Why, what have I 
done?’ would you not suppose that for him to have done 
nothing, and let your business suffer, was great wickedness, 
for which he deserved to be punished? 

Now, you are God’s steward, and if you are an impeni- 
tent sinner, you have wholly neglected God’s business, and 
have remained idle in his vineyard, or have been only 
attending to your own private interest; and now are you 
ready to ask what you have done? Are you not a knave, 
thus to neglect the business of your great employer, and 
go about your own private business, to the neglect of all 
that justice and duty and God require of you? 

But suppose your steward should employ his time in 
opposing your interest, using your capital and time in driv- 
ing at speculations directly opposed to the business for 
which he was employed? Would you not consider this great 
dishonesty? Would you not think it very ridiculous for 
him to account himself an honest man? Would you not 
suppose yourself obliged to call him to an account? And 
would you not account anyone a villain who should approve 
such conduct? Would you not think yourself bound to 
publish him abroad, that the world might know his char- 
acter, and that you might clear yourself from the charge of 
upholding such a person? 

How, then, shall God dispose of you, if you employ 
your time in opposing his interest, and use his capital in your 
hands, to drive at speculation directly opposed to the busi- 
ness for which he has employed you? Are you not ashamed, 
then, to account yourself an honest man; and will not God 


~ 


oe 





STEWARDSHIP 383 


consider himself under an obligation to call you to an 
account? Should he not do this, would not the omission be 
an evidence, on his part, of an approval of your abominable 
wickedness? Must he not feel himself constrained to make 
you a public example, that the universe may know how much 
he abhors your crimes? 

2. Stewards are bound to give an account of their 
talents. By talents, I mean here the powers of their minds. 
Boa. you should educate a man to be your steward, 
should support him during the time that he was engaged 
in study, and be at all the expense of his education, and 
that then he should either neglect to employ his mind in 
your service, or should use the powers of his cultivated 
intellect for the promotion of his own interests; would you 
not consider this as fraud and villany? Now, God created 
your minds, and has been at the expense of your education, 
and has trained you up for his service; and do you either let 
your mind remain in idleness, or pervert the powers of your 
cultivated intellect, to the promotion of your own private 
interest, and then ask what you have done to deserve the 
wrath of God? 

But suppose your steward should use his education in 
opposition to your interest, and use all the powers of his 
mind to destroy the very interest for which he was educated, 
and which he is employed to sustain; would you not look 
upon his conduct as marked with horrid guilt? And do you, 
sinner, employ the powers of your mind, and whatever edu- 
cation God may have given you, in opposing his interest; 
perverting his truth; scattering “‘fire-brands, arrows and 
death” all around you, and think to escape his curse? Shall 
not the Almighty be avenged upon such a wretch? 

3. A steward is bound to give an account for the 
influence he exerts upon mankind around him. 





384 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


Suppose you should employ a steward, should educate 
him until he possessed great talents, should put a large capi- 
tal into his hands, should exalt him high in society, and place 
him in circumstances to exert an immense influence in the 
commercial community, and that then he should refuse 
or neglect to exert this influence in promoting your interest; 
would you not consider this default a perpetual fraud prac- 
tised upon you? 

But suppose he should exert all this influence against 
you, and array himself with all his weight of character and 
talent and influence, and even employ the capital with which 
he was intrusted, in opposing your interest—what language, 
in your estimation, could then express your sense of his 
guilt? 

Hearer, whatever influence God has given you, if you 
are an impenitent sinner, you are not only neglecting to use 
it for God, to build up his kingdom, but you are employing 
it in opposition to his interest and glory; and for this, do you 
not deserve the damnation of hell? Perhaps you are rich, 
or learned, or have, on other accounts, great influence in 
society, and are refusing to use it to save the souls of men, 
but are bringing all your weight of character and talents and 
influence and example, to drag all who are within the sphere 
of your influence, down to the gates of hell. 

4. You must give an account for the manner in which 
you use the property in your possession. Suppose your 
steward should refuse to employ the capital with which you 
intrusted him, for the promotion of your interest, or sup- 
pose he were to account it his own, and to use it for his 
own private interest, or apply it to the gratification of his 
lusts, or the aggrandizement of his family; in bestowing 
large portions upon his daughters, or in ministering to the 
lusts and pride of his sons; while at the same time your 


; a 
a 





STEWARDSHIP 385 


business was suffering for the want of this very capital; or 
suppose that this steward held the purse-strings of your 
wealth, and that you had multitudes of other servants, 
whose necessities were to be supplied out of the means in 
his hands, and that their welfare, and even their lives, de- 
pended on these supplies; and yet this steward should min- 
ister to his own lusts, and those of his family, and suffer 
those, your other servants, to perish—what would you 
think of such wickedness? You intrusted him with your 
money, and enjoined him to take care of your other ser- 
vants, and, through his neglect, they were all dead men. 

Now, you have God’s money in your hands, and are sur- 
rounded by God’s children, whom he commands you to love 
as you do yourself. God might, with perfect justice, have 
given his property them instead of you. ‘The world ts full 
of poverty, desolation, and death; hundreds and millions 
are perishing, body and soul; God calls on you to exert 
yourself as his steward, for their salvation; to use all the 
property in your possession, so as to promote the greatest 
possible amount of happiness among your fellow-creatures. 
The Macedonian cry comes from the four winds of heaven, 
‘Come over and help us;” and yet you refuse to help; you 
hoard up the wealth in your possession, live in luxury, and 
let your fellow-men go down to hell. What language can 
describe your guilt? 

But suppose your servant, when you called him to ac- 
count, should say, ‘“‘Have I not acquired this property by 
my own industry?’ would you not answer, ‘““You have em- 
ployed my capital to do it, and my time, for which I have 
paid you; and the money you have gained is mine.” So 
when God calls upon you to use the property in your posses- 
sion for him, do you say it is yours, that you have obtained 
it by your own industry? Pray, whose time have you used, 





386 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


and whose talents and means? Did not God create you? 
Has he not sustained you? Has he not prospered you, and 
given you all his success? Yes; your time is his; your all is 
his: you have no right to say that wealth you have is yours; 
it is his, and you are bound to use it for his glory. You are 
a traitor to your trust if you do not so employ it. 

If your clerk take only a little of your money, his char- 
acter is gone, and he is branded as a villain. But sinners 
take not only a dollar or so, but all they can get, and use it 
for themselves. Don’t you see that God would do wrong 
not to call you to account, and punish you for filling both 
your pockets with his money, and calling it your own? Pro- 
fessor of religion, if you are doing so don’t call yourself 
a Christian. 

5. You must give an account of your soul. You haye 
no right to go to hell. God has a right to your soul; your 
going to hell would injure the whole universe. It would 
injure hell, because it would increase its torments. It would 
injure heaven, because it would wrong it out of your ser- 
vices. Who shall take the harp in your place, in singing 
praises to God? Who shall contribute your share to the 
happiness of heaven? 

Suppose you had a steward to whom you had given life, 
and educated him at a great expense, and then he should 
wilfully throw that life away; has he a right thus to dispose 
of a life of so much value to you? Is it not as just as to rob 
you of the same amount of property in anything else? 
God has made your soul, sustained and educated you, till 
you are now able to render him important services, and to 
glorify him forever; and have you a right to go to hell, 
and throw away your soul, and thus rob God of your sery- 
ice? Have you a right to render hell more miserable, and 
heaven less happy, and thus injure God and all the universe? 





STEWARDSHIP 387 


Do you still say, What if I do lose my soul, it is no- 
body’s business but my own? That is false; it is every- 
body’s business. Just as well might a man bring a con- 
tagious disease into a city, and spread dismay and death all 
around, and say it was nobody’s business but his own. 

6. You must give an account for the souls of others. 
God commands you to be a co-worker with him in con- 
verting the world. He needs your services, for he saves 
souls only through the agency of men. If souls are lost, or 
the gospel is not spread over the world, sinners charge all 
the blame upon Christians, as if they only were bound to be 
active in the cause of Christ, to exercise benevolence, to pray 
for a lost world, to pull sinners out of the fire. I wonder 
who has absolved you from these duties? Instead of doing 
your duty, you lie as a stumbling-block in the way of other 
sinners. ‘hus, instead of helping to save a world, all your 
actions help to send souls to hell. 

7. You are bound to give an account of the sentiments 
you entertain and propagate. God’s kingdom is to be built 
up by truth and not by error. Your sentiments will have an 
important bearing upon the influence you exert over those 
around you. 

‘Suppose the business in which your steward was em- 
ployed required that he should entertain right notions con- 
cerning the manner of doing it, and the principle involved 
in it, of your will and of his duty. And suppose you had 
given him, in writing, a set of rules for the government of 
his conduct, in relation to all the affairs with which he was 
intrusted; then if he should neglect to examine those rules, 
or should pervert their plain meaning, and should thus per- 
vert his own conduct, and be instrumental in deceiving 
others, leading them in the way of disobedience, would you 





388 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


not look upon this as criminal and deserving the severest 
reprobation? 

God has given you rules for the government of your 
conduct. In the Bible you have a plain revelation of his 
will in relation to all your actions. And now, do you either 
neglect or pervert it, and thus go astray yourself, and lead 
others with you in the way of disobedience and death, and 
then call yourself an honest man? For shame! 

8. You must givé an account of your opportunities of. 
doing good. 

If you employ a steward to transact your business, you 
expect him to take advantage of the state of the market 
and of things in general, to improve every opportunity to 
promote your interest. Suppose at the busy seasons of the 
year, he should spend his time in idleness, or in his own 
private affairs, and not have an eye at all to the most 
favourable opportunities of promoting your interest, would 
you not soon say to him, “Give an account of thy steward- 
ship, for thou mayest be no longer steward?’ Now, sin- 
ner, you have always neglected opportunities of serving 
God, of warning your fellow-sinners, of promoting revivals 
of religion, and advancing the interests of truth. You have 
been diligent merely to promote your own private interests, 
and have entirely neglected the interests of your great em- 
ployer; and are you not a wretch, and do you not deserve to 
be put out of the stewardship, as a dishonest man, and to 
be sent to the state prison of the universe? How can you 
escape the damnation of hell? 

Remarks. 1. From this subject you can see why the 
business of this world is a snare that drowns men’s souls in 
destruction and perdition. 

Sinners transact business to promote their own private 
interests, and not as God’s stewards; and thus act dishon- 





STEWARDSHIP 389 


estly, defraud God, grieve the Spirit, and promote their 
own sensuality, pride and death. If men considered them- 
selves as God’s clerks, they would not lie, and overreach, 
and work on the Sabbath, to make money for Him, they 
would be sure that such conduct would not please him. God 
never created this world to be a snare to men—it is abused; 
he designed it to be a delightful abode for them—but how 
perverted! 

Should all men’s business be done as for God, they 
would not find it such a temptation to fraud and dishonesty, 
as to ensnare and ruin their souls; it would have no tendency 
to wean the soul from him, or to banish him from their 
thoughts. When holy Adam dressed God’s garden and 
kept it, had that a tendency to banish God from his mind? 
If your gardener should all day be very busy in your pres- 
ence, dressing your plants, consulting your views, and doing 
your pleasure continually, asking how shall this be done, 
and how shall that be done, would this have a tendency 
to banish you from his thoughts? So, if you were busy all 
the day, seeking God’s glory, and transacting all your busi- 
ness for him, acting as his steward, sensible that his eyes 
were upon you, and were this your constant inquiry, how 
will this please him? and how will that please him? your 
being busy in such employment would have no tendency to 
distract your mind, and turn your thoughts from God. 

Or, suppose a mother, whose son was in a distant land, 
was busy all day in putting up clothes, and books, and neces- 
saries for him, continually questioning, how will this please 
him? and how will that please him? would that employment 
have a tendency to divert her mind from her absent son? 
Now if you consider yourself as God’s steward, doing his 
business; if you are in all things consulting his interests and 
his glory, and consider all your possessions as his, your time 





390 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


and your talents; the more busily you are engaged in his 
service, the more will God be present to all your thoughts. 

Again. You see why idleness is a snare to the soul. A 
man that is idle, is dishonest, forgets his responsibility, 
refuses to serve God, and gives himself up to the tempta- 
tions of the devil. Nay the idle man tempts the devil to 
tempt him. 

Again. You see the error of the maxim, that men can- 
not attend to business-and religion at the same time. A 
man’s business ought to be a part of his religion. He can- 
not be religious in idleness. He must have some business, 
to be religious at all, and if it is performed from a right 
motive, his lawful and necessary business is as much a 
necessary part of religion as prayer, or going to church, or 
reading his Bible. Anyone who pleads this maxim is a 
knave by his own confession, for no man can believe that 
an honest employment, and pursued for God’s glory, is in- 
consistent with religion. The objection supposes in the face 
of it that he considers his business either as unlawful in 
itself, or that he pursues it in a dishonest manner. If this 
be true, he cannot be religious, while thus pursuing his busi- 
ness; if his employment be wicked, he must relinquish it; or 
if honest and pursued in an unlawful manner, he must pur- 
sue it lawfully; or in either case he will lose his soul. But if 
his business is lawful, let him pursue it honestly, and from 
right motives, and he will find no difficulty in attending to 
his business, and being religious at the same time. A life 
of business is best for Christians, as it exercises their graces 
and makes them strong. 

4. ‘That most men do not account themselves as God’s 
stewards is evident from the fact that they consider the 
losses they sustain in business as their own losses. Suppose 
that some of your debtors should fail, and your clerks 





STEWARDSHIP 391 


should speak of it as their loss, and say they had met with 
great losses, would you not look upon it as ridiculous in 
the extreme? And is it not quite as ridiculous for you, if 
any of your Lord’s debtors fail, to make yourself very un- 
easy and unhappy about it? Is it your loss, or his? If you 
have done your duty, and taken suitable care of his prop- 
ery, and a loss is sustained, it is not your loss, but his. You 
should look at your sins and your duty, and not be fright- 
ened lest God should become bankrupt. If you acted as 
God’s steward or as his clerk, you would not think of speak- 
ing of the loss as your own loss. But if you have considered 
the property in your possession as your own, no wonder that 
God has taken it out of your hands. 

Again. You see that in the popular acceptation of the 
term, it is ridiculous to call institutions for the extension of 
the Redeemer’s kingdom in the world, charitable institu- 
tions. In one sense, indeed, they may be called such. 
Should you give your steward orders to appropriate a cer- 
tain amount of funds for the benefit of the poor in a certain 
parish—this would be charity in you, but not in him, it 
would be ridiculous in him to pretend that the charity was 
his. So, institutions for the promotion of religion are the 
charities of God, and not of man. The funds are God’s, 
and it is his requirement that they be expended according 
to his directions, to relieve the misery, or advance the 
happiness of our fellow-men. God, then, is the giver, and 
not men, and to consider the charities as the gift of men is 
to maintain that the funds belong to men and not to God. 
To call them charitable institutions, in the sense in which 
they are usually spoken of, is to say that men confer a 
favour upon God; that they give him their money and con- 
sider him as an object of charity. 

Suppose that a company of merchants in the city should 





392 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


employ a number of agents to transact their business in 
India, with an immense capital, and suppose these agents 
should claim the funds as their property, and whenever a 
draft was made upon them, should consider it begging, and 
asking charity at their hands, and should call the servant 
by whom the order was sent a beggar; and farther, suppose 
they should get together and form a charitable society to 
pay these drafts, of which they should become “life mem- 
bers’ by paying each a few dollars of their employers’ 
money into a common fund, and then hold themselves exon- 
erated from all farther calls; so that, when an agent was 
sent with drafts, they might direct the treasurer of their 
society to let him have a little, as a matter of almsgiving. 
Would not this be vastly ridiculous? What then do you 
think of yourself, when you talk of supporting these char- 
itable institutions, as if God, the owner of the universe, was 
to be considered as soliciting charity and his servants as the 
agents of an infinite beggar? Wow wonderful it is that 
God does not take such presumptuous men and put them in 
hell in a moment, and then with the money in their hands 
execute his plans for converting the world. 

Nor is it less ridiculous for them to suppose that by 
paying over the funds in their hands for this purpose, they 
confer a charity upon men: for it should all along be borne 
in mind, that the money is not theirs. They are God’s 
stewards and only pay it over to his order—in doing this, 
therefore, they neither confer a charity upon the servants 
who are sent with the orders nor upon those for whose bene- 
fit the money is to be expended. 

Again. When the servants of the Lord come with a 
draft upon you, to pay over some of the money in your 
possession into his treasury, to defray the expenses of his 
government and kingdom, why do you call it your own, and 





STEWARDSHIP 393 


say you can’t spare it? What do you mean by calling the 
agents beggars and saying you are sick of seeing so many 
beggars—disgusted with those agents of charitable institu- 
tions? Suppose your steward under such circumstances 
should call your agents beggars and say he was sick of so 
many beggars; would you not call him to an account, and 
let him see that the property in his possession was yours 
and not his? 

Again. You see the great wickedness of men’s hoarding 
up property as long as they live, and at death leaving a 

part of it to the church. Whatawill! To leave God half 
of his own property. Suppose a clerk should do so, and 
make a will, leaving his employer part of his own property! 
Yet this is called piety. Do you think that Christ will al- 
ways be a beggar? And yet the church is greatly pufted 
up with their great charitable donations and legacies to 
Jesus Christ. 

Again. You see the wickedness of laying up money for 
your children, and why money so laid up is a curse to them. 
Suppose your steward should lay up your money for his 
children, would you not consider him a knave? How then 
dare you take God’s money and lay it up for your children, 
while the world is sinking down to hell? But will you say, 
Is it not my duty to provide for my ‘‘own household?” Yes, 
it is your duty suitably to provide for them, but what is a 
suitable provision? Give them the best education you can 
for the service of God. Make all necessary provision for 
the supply of their real wants, “till they become of sufficient 
age to provide for themselves’’—and then if you see them 

_ disposed to do good in serving God and their generation, 
give them all the advantages for doing this in your power. 
- But to make them rich—to gratify their pride—to enable 
them to live in luxury or ease—or to provide that they 


he 
i. 





394 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


may become rich—to give your daughters what is called a 
genteel education—to allow them to spend their time in 
dress, idleness, gossiping, and effeminacy, you have no right 
—it is defrauding God, ruining your own soul, and greatly 
endangering theirs. 

Again. Impenitent sinners will be finally and eternally 
disgraced. Do you not account it a disgrace to a man, to be 
detected in fraud and every species of knavery in transact- 
ing the business of his employer? Is not such a man de- 
servedly thrown out of business; is he not a disgrace to him- 
self and his family; can anybody trust him? How then will 
you appear before an injured God and an injured universe 
—a God whose laws and rights you have despised—a uni- 
verse with whose interests you have been at war? How 
will you, in the solemn judgment, be disgraced, your name 
execrated, and you become the hissing and contempt of hell, 
for the numberless frauds and villanies you have practised 
upon God and upon ae creatures! But perhaps you are a 





as Beggars who came with drafts aah you to pay over into 
his treasury? How will you hold up your head in the face 
of heaven? How dare you now pray; how dare you sit at 
the communion table; how dare you profess the religion of 
Jesus Christ, if you have set up a private interest, and do 
not consider all that you have as his, and use it all for his 
glory? 

Again. We have here a true test of Christian char- 
acter. [rue Christians consider themselves as God’s stew- 
ards: they act for him, live for him, transact business for 
him, eat and drink for his glory, live and die to please him. 
But sinners and hypocrites live for themselves; account 





STEWARDSHIP 395 


their time, their talents, their influence, as their own; and 
dispose of them all for their own private interest and thus 
drown themselves in destruction and perdition. 

At the judgment, we are informed that Christ will say 
to those who are accepted, “Well done, good and faithful 
servants.’ Hearer! could he truly say this of you, ‘Well 
done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful 
over a few things,” 7. e. over the things committed to your 
charge. He will pronounce no false judgment, put no false 
estimate upon things; and if he cannot say this truly, “Well 
done, good and faithful servant,” you will not be accepted, 
but will be thrust down to hell. Now, what is your char- 
acter, and what has been your conduct? God will soon call 
you to give an account of your stewardship. Have you been 
faithful to God, faithful to your own soul, and the souls of 
others? Are you ready to have your accounts examined, 
your conduct scrutinized, and your life weighed in the bal- 
ance of the sanctuary? Are you interested in the blood of 
Jesus Christ? If not, repent, repent now, of all your wick- 
edness, and lay hold upon the hope that is set before you; 
for, hark! a voice cries in your ears, ‘Give an account of 
thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward.” 


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The Religion of the Day 





JOHN HENRY NEWMAN 


OHN HENRY NEWMAN was born in London, on 
J the 2lst of February, 1801, and died there, October 
11th, 1890. After taking his degree at Oxford, he was 
ordained and became vicar of St. Mary’s, to which the 
chapelry of Littlemore was attached. In 1832 he made a 
tour of the south of Europe in company with R. H. Froude. 
After his visit to Rome he spoke of the Roman Catholic 
faith, which he afterwards embraced, as “‘polytheistic, de- 
grading and idolatrous.” In June, 1833, when becalmed 
on an orange boat in the Strait of Bonifacio, he wrote his 
famous hymn, “Lead, Kindly Light.” That he had no 
mean gift as a poet is shown by his “Dream of Gerontius,” 
a powerful effort to represent the fate of the soul in the un- 
seen world. 

On July 14th, 1833, Newman preached at St. Mary’s 
the sermon “National Apostasy” which started the Oxford 
Movement, the object of which was to maintain the strict 
discipline and the high orthodoxy of the Church of Eng- 
land. From that time on, Newman gradually began to 
show signs of dissatisfaction with the Church of England 
and doubts as to the validity of its orders. In 1843, he 
withdrew from the Anglican communion, and in 1845 was 
received into the Roman Catholic Church. Most of his 
years in the Roman priesthood were spent at Edgbaston. 
On the 12th of August, 1879, through the influence of 
prominent English Catholics, Leo XIII created Newman 
a Cardinal. 

In his youth, Newman had been deeply impressed by his 
Calvinistic mother, Scott’s Commentary on the Bible and 
the reading of Law’s Serious Call. This Protestant con- 
viction of his early years never deserted him, as is apparent 
even in the sermons preached after he became a Catholic. 
Newman generally read his sermons, though after joining 
the Roman Catholic Church he tried the extempore method 


397 





398 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


of the priests of that Church. His voice was not strong, 
but gentle and of haunting sweetness. His idea of the busi- 
ness of the preacher is well expressed in his sermon, “The 
Salvation of the Hearer the Motive of the Preacher.” At 
the close of that sermon he says, ‘“We are not asking you 
to take for granted what we say, for we are strangers to 
you; we do but simply bid you first to consider that you 
have souls to be saved, and next to judge for yourselves 
whether, if God has revealed a religion of His own, 
whereby to save those souls; that religion can be any other 
than the faith which we preach.” No one can read the 
sermons of Newman without realizing that here is a 
preacher who believes that man has a soul to save and 
that Christ can save it. 

The sermon chosen for this volume, ‘““The Religion of 
the Day,” was preached almost a century ago, yet it is still 
a tract for the times and describes the difference between 
historic and Scriptural Christianity and the easy-going 
pseudo-Christianity which ignores completely the deeper 
and graver side of the Christian revelation. In this sermon 
occur the striking sentences: “Till you know the weight of 
your sins, you cannot embrace the offer of mercy held out 
to you in the Gospel through the death of Christ. ‘Till you 
know what it is to fear with the terrified sailors or the 
Apostles, you cannot sleep with Christ at your heavenly 
Father’s feet.” 


The Religion of the Day 


“Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably 
with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consum- 


ing fire’ (Heb. 12:28, 29). 


N every age of Christianity, since it was first preached, 
there has been what may be called a religion of the 
world, which so far imitates the one true religion, as to 

deceive the unstable and unwary. The world does not oppose 
religion as such. I may say, it never has opposed it. In 
particular, it has, in all ages, acknowledged in one sense or 
other the Gospel of Christ, fastened on one or other of its 
characteristics, and professed to embody this in its practice; 
while by neglecting the other parts of the holy doctrine, it 
has, in fact, distorted and corrupted even that portion of it 
which it has exclusively put forward, and so has contrived 
to explain away the whole ;—for he who cultivates only one 
precept of the Gospel to the exclusion of the rest, in reality 
attends to no part at all. Our duties balance each other; 
and though we are too sinful to perform them all perfectly, 
yet we may in some measure be performing them all, and 
preserving the balance on the whole whereas, to give our- 
selves only to this or that commandment, is to incline our 
minds in a wrong direction, and at length to pull them down 
to the earth, which is the aim of our adversary, the Devil. 

It is his aim to break our strength; to force us down to 
the earth,—to bind us there. The world is his instrument 
for this purpose; but he is too wise to set it in open opposi- 
tion to the Word of God. No! he affects to be a prophet 
like the prophets of God. He calls his servants also 
prophets; and they mix with the scattered remnant of the 


399 





400 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





true Church, with the solitary Micaiahs who are left upon 
the earth, and speak in the name of the Lord. And in one 
sense they speak the truth; but it is not the whole truth; and 
we know, even from the common experience of life, that half 
the truth is often the most gross and mischievous of false- 
hoods. 

What is the world’s religion now? It has taken the 
brighter side of the Gospel,—its tidings of comfort, its pre- 
cepts of love; all darker, deeper views of man’s condition 
and prospects being comparatively forgotten. ‘This is the 
religion natural to a civilized age, and well has Satan 
dressed and completed it into an idol of the Truth. As the 
reason is cultivated, the taste formed, the affections and 
sentiments refined, a general decency and grace will of 
course spread over the face of society, quite independently 
of the influence of Revelation. ‘That beauty and delicacy of 
thought, which is so attractive in books, then extends to the 
conduct of life, to all we have, all we do, all we are. Our 
manners are courteous; we avoid giving pain or offence; our 
words become correct; our relative duties are carefully per- 
formed. Our sense of propriety shows itself even in our 
domestic arrangements, in the embellishments of our houses, 
in our amusements, and so also in our religious profession. 
Vice now becomes unseemly and hideous to the imagination, 
or, as it is sometimes familiarly said, ‘‘out of taste.” Thus 
elegance is gradually made the test and standard of virtue, 
which is no longer thought to possess an intrinsic claim on 
our hearts, or to exist, further than it leads to the quiet and 
comfort of others. Conscience is no longer recognized as 
an independent arbiter of actions, its authority is explained 
away; partly it is superseded in the minds of men by the so- 
called moral sense, which is regarded merely as the love of 
the beautiful; partly by the rule of expediency, which is 





THE RELIGION OF THE Day 401 





forthwith substituted for it in the details of conduct. Now 
conscience is a stern, gloomy principle; it tells us of guilt and 
of prospective punishment. Accordingly, when its terrors 
disappear, then disappear also, in the creed of the day, those 
fearful images of Divine wrath with which the Scriptures 
abound. They are explained away. Every thing is bright 
and cheerful. Religion is pleasant and easy; benevolence is 
the chief virtue; intolerance, bigotry, excess of zeal, are the 
first of sins. Austerity is an absurdity;—even firmness is 
looked on with an unfriendly, suspicious eye. On the other 
hand, all open profligacy is discountenanced; drunkenness is 
accounted a disgrace; cursing and swearing are vulgarities. 
Moreover, to a cultivated mind, which recreates itself in 
the varieties of literature and knowledge, and is interested 
in the ever-accumulating discoveries of science, and the ever- 
fresh accessions of information, political or otherwise, from 
foreign countries, religion will commonly seem to be dull, 
from want of novelty. Hence excitements are eagerly 
sought out and rewarded. New objects in religion, new 
systems and plans, new doctrines, new preachers, are neces- 
sary to satisfy that craving which the so-called spread of 
knowledge has created. The mind becomes morbidly sensi- 
tive and fastidious; dissatisfied with things as they are, de- 
sirous of a change as such, as if alteration must of itself be 
a relief. 

Now I would have you put Christianity for an instant 
out of your thoughts; and consider whether such a state of 
refinement as I have attempted to describe, is not that to 
which men might be brought, quite independent of religion, 
by the mere influence of education and civilization; and then 
again, whether, nevertheless, this mere refinement of mind 
is not more or less all that is called religion at this day. In 
other words, is it not the case, that Satan has so composed 





402 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


and dressed out what is the mere natural product of the 
human heart under certain circumstances, as to serve his 
purposes as the counterfeit of the Truth? I do not at all 
deny that this spirit of the world uses words, and makes pro- 
fessions, which it would not adopt except for the suggestions 
of Scripture; nor do I deny that it takes a general coloring 
from Christianity, so as really to be modified by it, nay, in 
a measure enlightened and exalted by it. Again, I fully 
grant that many persons in whom this bad spirit shows itself, 
are but partially infected by it, and at bottom, good Chris- 
tians, though imperfect. Still, after all, here is an existing 
teaching, only partially evangelical, built upon worldly prin- 
ciple, yet pretending to be the Gospel, dropping one whole 
side of the Gospel, its austere character, and considering 
it enough to be benevolent, courteous, candid, correct 
in conduct, delicate,—though it includes no true fear of God, 
no fervent zeal for His honor, no deep hatred of sin, no 
horror at the sight of sinners, no indignation and compassion 
at the blasphemies of heretics, no jealous adherence to doc- 
trinal truth, no especial sensitiveness about the particular 
means of gaining ends, provided the ends be good, no loyalty 
to the Holy Apostolic Church, of which the Creed speaks, 
no sense of the authority of religion as external to the mind: 
in a word, no seriousness,—and therefore is neither hot nor 
cold, but (in Scripture language) lukewarm. ‘Thus the pres- 
ent age is the very contrary to what are commonly called the 
dark ages; and together with the faults of those ages we 
have lost their virtues. I say their virtues; for even the er- 
rors then prevalent, a persecuting spirit, for instance, fear 
of religious inquiry, bigotry, these were, after all, but per- 
versions and excesses of real virtues, such as zeal and 
reverence; and we, instead of limiting and purifying them, 
have taken them away root and branch. Why? because we 





THE RELIGION OF THE Day 403 


have not acted from a love of the Truth, but from the influ- 
ence of the Age. ‘The old generation has passed, and its 
character with it; a new order of things has arisen. Human 
society has a new framework, and fosters and develops a 
new character of mind and this new character is made by 
the enemy of our souls to resemble the Christian‘s obedience 
as near as it may, its likeness all the time being but accidental. 
Meanwhile, the Holy Church of God, as from the begin- 
ning, continues her course heavenward; despised by the 
world, yet influencing it, partly correcting it, partly restrain- 
ing it, and in some happy cases reclaiming its victims, and 
fixing them firmly and for ever within the lines of the faith- 
ful host militant here on earth, which journeys towards the 
City of the Great King. God give us grace to search our 
hearts, lest we be blinded by the deceitfulness of sin! lest 
we serve Satan transformed into an Angel of light, while 
we think we are pursuing true knowledge; lest, over-looking 
and ill-treating the elect of Christ here, we have to ask that 
awful question at the last day, while the truth is bursting 
upon us, ‘Lord, when saw we Thee a stranger and a pris- 
oner?’ when saw we [hy sacred Word and Servants de- 
spised and oppressed, ‘‘and did not minister unto Thee?” 

Nothing shows more strikingly the power of the world’s 
religion, as now described, than to consider the very differ- 
ent classes of men whom it influences. It will be found to 
extend its sway and its teaching both over the professedly 
religious and the irreligious. 

1. Many religious men, rightly or not, have long been 
expecting a millennium of purity and peace for the Church. 
I will not say, whether or now with reason, for good men 
may well differ on such a subject. But, anyhow, in the case 
of those who have expected it, it has become a temptation 
to take up and recognize the world’s religion as I have al- 


404 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


ready delineated it. ‘They have more or less identified their 
vision of Christ’s kingdom with the elegance and refinement 
of mere human civilization; and have hailed every evidence 
of improved decency, every wholesome civil regulation, ev- 
ery beneficent and enlightened act of state policy, as signs of 
their coming Lord. Bent upon achieving their object, an ex- 
tensive and glorious diffusion and profession of the Gospel, 
they have been little solicitous about the means employed. 
They have countenanced and acted with men who openly 
professed unchristian principles. They have accepted and 
defended what they considered to be reformations and amel- — 
iorations of the existing state of things, though injustice 
must be perpetrated in order to effect them, or long cher- 
ished rules of conduct, indifferent perhaps in their origin but 
consecrated by long usage, must be violated. ‘They have 
sacrificed Truth to expedience. They have strangely imag- 
ined that bad men are to be the immediate instruments of 
the approaching advent of Christ; and (like the deluded 
Jews not many years since in a foreign country) they have 
taken, if not for their Messiah (as the Jews did), at least 
for their Elijah, their reforming Baptist, the Herald of the 
Christ, children of this world, and sons of Belial, on whom 
the anathema of the Apostles lies from the beginning, de- 
claring, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him 
be Anathema Maran-atha.”’ 

2. On the other hand, the form of doctrine, which I 
have called the religion of the day, is especially adapted to 
please men of sceptical minds, the opposite extreme to those 
just mentioned, who have never been careful to obey their 
conscience, who cultivate the intellect without discipling the 
heart, and who allow themselves to speculate freely about 
what religion ought to be, without going to Scripture to dis- 
cover what it really is. Some persons of this character al- 


j 





THE RELIGION OF THE Day 405 





most consider religion itself to be an obstacle in the advance 
of our social and political well-being. But they know human 
nature requires it; therefore they select the most rational 
form of religion (so they call it) which they can find. Others 
are far more seriously disposed, but are corrupted by bad 
example or other cause. But they al] discard (what they 
call) gloomy views of religion; they all trust themselves more 
than God’s word, and thus may be classed together; and are 
ready to embrace the pleasant consoling religion natural to 
a polished age. They lay much stress on works like Natural 
Theology, and think that all religion is contained in these; 
whereas, in truth, there is no greater fallacy than to suppose 
such works to be in themselves in any true sense religious at 
all. Religion, it has been well observed, is something rela- 
tive to us; a system of commands and promises from God 
towards us. But how are we concerned with the sun, moon, 
and stars? or with the laws of the universe? how will they 
teach us our duty? how will they speak to sinners? ‘They 
do not speak to sinners at all. ‘They were created before 
Adam fell. They ‘‘declare the glory of God,” but not His 
will. They are all perfect, all harmonious; but that brightness 
and excellence which they exhibit in their own creation, and 
the Divine benevolence therein seen, are of little moment’ 
to fallen man. We see nothing there of God’s wrath, of 
which the conscience of a sinner loudly speaks. So that there 
cannot be a more dangerous (though a common) device of 
Satan, than to carry us off from our own secret thoughts, to 
make us forget our own hearts, which tell us of a God of 
justice and holiness, and to fix our attention merely on the 
God who made the heavens; who is our God indeed, but not 
God as manifested to us sinners, but as He shines forth to 
His Angels, and to His elect hereafter. 

When a man has so far deceived himself as to trust his 





406 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


destiny to what the heavens tell him of it, instead of con- 
sulting and obeying his conscience, what is the consequence? 
that at once he misinterprets and perverts the whole tenor 
of Scripture. It cannot be denied that, pleasant as religious 
observances are declared in Scripture to be to the holy, yet 
to men in general they are said to be difficult and distasteful ; 
to all men naturally impossible, and by few fulfilled even 
with the assistances of grace, on account of their wilful cor- 
ruption. Religion is pronounced to be against nature, to be 
against our original will, to require God’s aid to make us 
love and obey it, and to be commonly refused and opposed in 
spite of that aid. We are expressly told, that “‘strait is the 
gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and few there be 
that find it; that we must “strive” or struggle “‘to enter in 
at the strait gate,” for that ‘many shall seek to enter in,” 
but that is not enough, they merely seek and therefore do not 
find; and further, that they who do not obtain everlasting 
life, “‘shall go into everlasting punishment.” This is the 
dark side of religion; and the men I have been describing 
cannot bear to think of it. ‘They shrink from it as too ter- 
rible. ‘They easily get themselves to believe that those strong 
declarations of Scripture do not belong to the present day, 
or that they are figurative. “They have no language within 
their heart responding to them. Conscience has been silenced. 
The only information they have received concerning God 
has been from Natural Theology, and that speaks only of 
benevolence and harmony; so they will not credit the plain 
word of Scripture. ‘They seize on such parts of Scripture as 
seem to countenance their own opinions; they insist on its 
being commanded us to “rejoice evermore”’ and they argue 
that it is our duty to solace ourselves here (in moderation, 
of course) with the goods of this life, that we have only to 
be thankful while we use them,—that we need not alarm 





THE RELIGION OF THE DAy 407 


ourselves,— that God is a merciful God,—that amendment 
is quite sufficient to atone for our offences,—that though we 
have been irregular in our youth, yet that is a thing gone by, 
—that we forget it, and therefore God forgets it,—that the 
world is, on the whole, very well disposed towards religion, 
—that we should avoid enthusiasm,—that we should not be 
over serious,—that we should have large views on the sub- 
ject of human nature,—and that we should love all men. 
This indeed is the creed of shallow men, in every age, who 
reason a little, and feel not at all, and who think themselves 
enlightened and philosophical. Part of what they say is 
false, part is true, but misapplied; but why I have noticed it 
here, is to show how exactly it fits in with what I have al- 
ready described as the peculiar religion of a civilized age; it 
fits in with it equally well, as does that of the (so called) 
religious world, which is the opposite extreme. 

One further remark I will make about these professedly 
rational Christians; who, be it observed, often go on to deny 
the mysteries of the Gospel. Let us take the text :—‘‘Our 
God is a consuming fire.’”’ Now supposing these persons 
fell upon these words, or heard them urged as an argument 
against their own doctrine of the unmixed satisfactory char- 
acter of our prospects in the world to come, and supposing 
they did not know what part of the Bible they occurred in, 
what would they say? Doubtless they would confidently 
say that they applied only to the Jews and not to Christians ; 
that they only described the Divine Author of the Mosaic 
Law; that God formerly spoke in terrors to the Jews, be- 


‘cause they were a gross and brutish people, but that civiliza- 


tion has made us quite other men; that our reason, not our 
fears, is appealed to, and that the Gospel is love. And yet, 
in spite of all this argument, the text occurs in the Epistle to 
the Hebrews, written by an Apostle of Christ. 








408 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


I shall conclude with stating more fully what I mean by 
the dark side of religion; and what judgment ought to be 
passed on the superstitious and gloomy. 

Here I will not shrink from uttering my firm conviction, 
that it would be a gain to this country, were it vastly more 
superstitious, more bigoted, more gloomy, more fierce in its 
religion, than at present it shows itself to be. Not, of course, 
that I think the tempers of mind herein implied desirable, 
which would be an evident absurdity; but I think them in- © 
finitely more desirable and more promising than a heathen 
obduracy, and a cold, self-sufficient, self-wise tranquillity. 
Doubtless, peace of mind, a quiet conscience, and a cheerful 
countenance are the gift of the Gospel, and the sign of a 
Christian; but the same effects (or, rather, what appear to 
be the same) may arise from very different causes. Jonah 
slept in the storm,—so did our Blessed Lord. The one slept 
in an evil security: the Other in the ‘“‘peace of God which 
passeth all understanding.”’ ‘he two states cannot be con- 
founded together, they are perfectly distinct; and as distinct 
is the calm of the man of the world from that of the Chris- 
tian. Now take the case of the sailors on board the vessel; 
they cried to Jonah, ‘“‘What meanest thou, O sleeper ?”’— 
so the Apostles said to Christ; ‘““Lord, we perish.”’ ‘This is 
the case of the superstitious; they stand between the false 
peace of Jonah and the true peace of Christ; they are better © 
than the one, though far below the Other. Applying this to 
the present religion of the educated world, full as it is of 
security and cheerfulness, and decorum, and benevolence, I 
observe that these appearances may arise either from a great — 
deal of religion, or from the absence of it; they may be the 
fruits of shallowness of mind and a blinded conscience, or of 
that faith which has peace with God through our Lord Jesus — 
Christ. And if this alternative be proposed, I might leave 





THE RELIGION OF THE Day 409 





it to the common sense of men to decide (if they could get 
themselves to think seriously) to which of the two the tem- 
per of the age is to be referred. For myself I cannot doubt, 
seeing what I see of the world, that it arises from the sleep 
of Jonah and it is therefore but a dream of religion, far in- 
ferior in worth to the well-grounded alarm of the supersti- 
tious, who are awakened and see their danger, though they 
do not attain so far in faith as to embrace the remedy of it. 
Think of this, I beseech you, my brethren, and lay it to 
heart, as far as you go with me, as you will answer for hav- 
ing heard it at the last day. I would not willingly be harsh; 
but knowing ‘“‘that the world lieth in wickedness,” I think it 
highly probably that you, so far as you are in it (as you must 
be, and we all must be in our degree), are, most of you, par- 
tially infected with its existing error, that shallowness of 
religion, which is the result of a blinded conscience; and, 
therefore, I speak earnestly to you. Believing in the exis- 
tence of a general plague in the land, I judge that you prob- 
ably have your share in the sufferings, the voluntary 
sufferings, which it is spreading among us. The fear of God 
is the beginning of wisdom; till you see Him to be a consum- 
ing fire, and approach Him with reverence and godly fear, 
as being sinners, you are not even in sight of the strait gate. 
I do not wish you to be able to point to any particular time 
when you renounced the world (as it is called), and were 
converted; this is a deceit. Fear and love must go together; 
always fear, always love, to your dying day. Doubtless ;— 
still you must know what it is to sow in tears here, if you 
would reap in joy hereafter. ‘Till you know the weight of 
your sins, and that not in mere imagination, but in practice, 
not so as merely to confess it in a formal phrase of lamen- 
tation, but daily and in your heart in secret, you cannot em- 
brace the offer of mercy held out to you in the Gospel, 





410 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


through the death of Christ. ‘Till you know what it is to 
fear with the terrified sailors or the Apostles, you cannot 
sleep with Christ at your Heavenly Father’s feet. Miser- 
able as were the superstitions of the dark ages, revolting 
as are the tortures now in use among the heathen of the 
East, better, far better is it, to torture the body all one’s 
days, and to make this life a hell upon earth, than to remain 
in a brief tranquillity here, till the pit at length opens under 
us, and awakens us to an eternal fruitless consciousness and 
remorse. ‘Chink of Christ’s own words: ‘What shall a man 
give in exchange for his soul?’ Again, He says, ‘Fear 
Him, who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into hell; 
yea, I say unto you, fear Him.” Dare not to think you have 
got to the bottom of your hearts; you do not know what evil 
lies there. How long and earnestly must you pray, how 
many years must you pass in careful obedience, before you 
have any right to lay aside sorrow, and to rejoice in the 
Lord? In one sense, indeed, you may take comfort from the 
first; for, though you dare not yet anticipate you are in the 
number of Christ’s true elect, yet from the first you know 
He desires your salvation, has died for you, has washed 
away your sins by baptism, and will ever help you; and this 
thought must cheer you while you go on to examine and 
review your lives, and to turn to God in self-denial. But, 
at the same time, you never can be sure of salvation, while 
you are here; and therefore you must always fear while you 
hope. Your knowledge of your sins increases with your 
view of God’s mercy in Christ. And this is the true Chris- 
tian state, and the nearest approach to Christ’s calm and 
placid sleep in the tempest ;—not perfect joy and certainty 
in heaven, but a deep resignation to God’s will, a surrender 
of ourselves, soul and body, to Him; hoping indeed, that we 
shall be saved, but fixing our eyes more earnestly on Him 








THE RELIGION OF THE Day 411 





than on ourselves, that is, acting for His glory, seeking to 
please Him, devoting ourselves to Him in all manly obedi- 
ence and strenuous good works; and, when we do look 
within, thinking of ourselves with a certain abhorrence and 
contempt as being sinners, mortifying our flesh, scourging 
our appetites, and composedly awaiting that time when, if 
we be worthy, we shall be stripped of our present selves, and 
new made in the kingdom of Christ. 


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The Second Chance 





HORACE BUSHNELL 


ORACE BUSHNELL was born at Bantam, Con- 
necticut, on April 14, 1802, and died at Hartford, 
February 17, 1876. He was from 1833 to 1859 pastor of 
the North Congregational Church, Hartford. His best 
known work is “The Vicarious Sacrifice,” a study of the 
Atonement, in which he presents the so-called “moral” 
theory of the death of Christ. His views occasioned alarm 
among his contemporaries and he would have been tried for 
heresy had not his church made this impossible by with- 
drawing from the consociation of which it was a member. 
But were Bushnell alive today, he would be ranked as a 
conservative rather than otherwise. 
His sermon on a Second Probation after death shows 
how firmly he held to the great and solemn truth that this 
present life determines the destiny of man. 


413 





The Second Chance 


“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this 


the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). 


T is a form of opinion frequently held, and received with 
increasing favor in these times, that there is to be some 
better chance given to bad men after this life is over; 

a second or renewed trial, that may be expected to result 
more favorably; a third, possibly a round of trials, that will 
finally wind up all disaster, and bring the most intractable 
spirits into a genuinely perfected character. This hope I 
could not encourage, because I see no benefit to come of it 
—nothing, in fact, but damage and loss. 

Observing this word “once,” and reading it more ex- 
actly, “once for all,’ we discover an aspect of finality in the 
declaration that has little agreement with the expectation 
referred to—implying, in fact, a fixed belief that our present 
probation, or state of trial, is to be both first and last, a 
trial once for all. hat a great many thoughtful minds 
recoil from what appears to be the undue severity and rigor 
of such an appointment is not wonderful. That God should 
give us by a single chance—one short trial—and hang every 
thing in our great life-problem on it, indicates, they imagine, 
some deplorable fault of beneficence. It is as if he had 
set our trial as a trap to catch us. We begin it, they say, 
in a state of unknowing infancy, and scarcely get on far 
enough in knowledge to act our part wisely, when we are 
hurried away. If God is really willing to do the best thing 
for us, why does he not, will he not, give us a second trial, 
or a lengthened, partly renewed probation; that we may 
have our advantage in correcting the mistakes and repairing 


415 





416 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


the wrongs of the first? Do we not learn a great deal 
from our first trial that could now be turned to account? 
And how often are we sighing, all of us, at the recollection 
of our misdoings, and wishing we could only go over life 
again. Everything now would be differently done, we think, 
because we have learned so much from that experience. We 
could hardly make any such bad mistakes again as we have 
made, for we have seen exactly what results follow. The 
good opportunities we should now value and improve, the 
temptations that have had their mask taken off we should 
scornfully reject, the perils that before overcame us we 
should understandingly face and vigorously master. And 
so, trying life once more, we should come out safely, one 
and all, in a character fully consummated and established. 

If now this kind of argument were good, if it would be 
for our real advantage as respects the training of our char- 
acter, God would certainly allow us to go over life again. 
He would give us, I verily believe, twenty or a hundred 
trials, if it were morally best for us, and would secure a 
greater amount of good or holy virtue as the result. But 
that it would not, I am firmly convinced, for reasons that I 
now undertake to set forth. Notice then: 

1. ‘The most prominent and forward argument above 
referred to—viz., the very many valuable regrets prepared 
by our first trial, which ought not to be lost for want of 
another, such as will permit us to get our advantage in 
them. Such regrets in abundance are, no doubt, felt; but 
we must not make more of them than is to be made. A 
really solid, practical regret is next thing to repentance, and 
it will not wait, if we have it, for a second trial to give us 
a chance of amendment; it will seize its opporunity now, 
and be forthwith consummated in repentance and the begin- 
ning of a right life. All such true regrets are different from 








THE SECOND CHANCE 417 





the lazy kind, which want another life to ripen them. 
Being honest and true, they are prompt also, ready for the 
present trial, and looking for no other so far off as to let 
them evaporate. It is, in fact, one of the very precise, un- 
deniable objections to the plan of a second trial, that it is a 
way—the most certain way possible—of making all our bad 
regrets barren; for what can spoil their integrity more in- 
evitably than that we are looking for some good time to 
come, when we shall turn them to account more easily and 
with jess distraction? ‘he precise thing not wanted here is 
a second trial. The most unpropitious thing possible for a 
soul, wading deep in the conviction of neglected opportu- 
nities, and abused powers, is the proffer of some posthumous, 
second-life chance of amendment, that dispenses with the 
disagreeable necessity of prompt amendment now. Con- 
sider next: 

2. As a matter partly coincident, the very self-evident 
fact that, if we had two or more trials offered us, we should 
be utterly slack and neglectful in the first, and should bring 
it to its end almost inevitably in a condition utterly unhope- 
ful. For the supposition now, as you observe, is not that a 
second trial is going to be sprung upon us in the after-state 
by surprise; but that it is to be such a kind of change or 
transition as we have argued for beforehand. We are to 
have it here as our deliberate conclusion that, however, the 
present first trial may go, we shall at any rate have another. 
Be it so; let the argument be sure, and then, if a second 
trial is certainly to come, what shall hold us to any least 
concern for the first? The very promise itself is license 
and chartered recklessness. It even lies in the plan, we may 
say, that it shall be only a failure; a bad, foul chapter— 
any kind of chapter we may like in lust and wild caprice to 
make it. Put into language outspoken, it says, ‘‘Plunge thy- 





418 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


self uncaringly into evil. Fear nothing, be as irresponsible 
as you will; and, if it suits your fancy or your appetite, or 
the wild, bad impulse that takes you, be a devil. And then, 
when you have burned away your finest capacities and high- 
est possibilities of good in the hells of your lust, know that 
a second chance is coming in which you will easily make the 
damage good.” Ah? that second chance which is to mend 
the bad issues of the first, what is it but a bid for the mis- 
improvement, moral abandonment, irrecoverable damage 
and sacrifice of the first? It is even doubtful whether Chris- — 
tian men enough could be raised in it to make up, for the © 
present world, a church, or man its gospel offices and func- 
tions. Again: 

3. It is important or even quite decisive on the question, 
to observe and make due account of the fact that the second 
trial must, in any case, begin where the first leaves off. It is 
we, by supposition, that are to go into this second trial; not 
some other we, new-created and set in our place. We carry 
down with us all the old history lived, and the results ma- 
tured, as they are garnered in us, and with that dismal outfit 
we begin again. Righteous men, if such there are, will not, 
of course, be kept back here in embargo to go through a 
second trial. Only to the bad will any such going over of 
the round again have any look of opportunity. And they 
must be thoroughly bad for that matter, else they will beg 
to be excused; for such as are only less good than they would 
be, and have got some tolerable confidence of their future, 
will recoil from the new trial proposed, with unutterable 
dread. For one, I should not dare to choose it for my 
privilege. I should say, and I think a great many would 
join me in a like confession, that I consciously have made but 
a poor, sad figure, and seem rather to have slighted than 
duly profited by what my God has done for me; and yet, 





THE SECOND CHANCE 419 





having gotten some benefit, such as gives me hope of my 
future, it is not enough that I might possibly do better on 
a second trial; the experience I have had of myself makes 
me rather afraid that I should do worse, even fatally worse. 
I can not risk it; indeed, I shudder at the possibility, in such 
misgivings that nothing short of God’s compulsions can 
ever bring me to it. And yet almost every man who Is in 
the same general state—mortified and troubled by his own 
short-comings and the self-dissatisfaction he feels — has 
said, how often, with a sigh, not considering all it means, 
“Oh, I should love above all things to live my life over 
again!’ No, I deny it; you would not. Coming to the real 
point, your courage would utterly fail. If you must begin 
where you leave off—as you must, if you are the same being 
—you would see no look of promise or charm of opportu- 
nity in the new trial permitted, but would draw back rather 
in utter revulsion. Possibly certain worn-out hacks of grace 
and judgment might be so far bereft of perception as to 
think it a good thing to have a second turn thus under grace 
and judgment. But they must begin their second turn where 
they ended their first, with all their finest capabilities de- 
flowered, and all their sins stuck fast in them—pinned 
through their moral nature by habit—with a dry, bad mind, 
and a heart poisoned by its own passion, and a wild, dis- 
tempered will; and, having only this poor, battered, broken 
furniture, they must now set themselves to another chapter 
of trial, and make it a good one. They must, I say; they 
undertake to do it, but who can believe that they will? 

4. Considering the fact that our second trial must begin 
where the first leaves off, we shall find it quite impossible 
to conceive the state supposed, in a way that does not 
make it utterly unpromising and very nearly absurd. We 
imagine, it is true, what a beautiful thing it would be to live 





420 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


our life over again, beginning at our childhood and carrying 
back into it all the experiences we have gained; and we are 
so much fascinated that we do not see the nonsense of it. 
We are really conceiving the old spoiled cargo of an old bad 
life carried onward and put upon or put into a very young 
child; and are nowise shocked, either by the absurdity of 
the plan or the woe of the child. What now is the hapless 
creature going to do, or be, or how to carry himself? Not, 
certainly, to act his old infancy over again. To handle 
again, see, touch, taste, question, learn: in that way to stock 
the mind with symbols, and get in the timber of thought 
and feeling and fancy and action—which is the beautiful 
office of childhood—that is no more wanted. ‘The timber 
is all in beforehand, and the supposition is that the child- 
soul, thus completely stocked already, will begin to be wise 
off-hand. But look again at this very absurd creature—a 
little child with a grown man’s wisdoms, follies, vices, sins, 
all packed in, to be the furniture of a certainly wise, good 
life! Why, the creature is not a child, if you call him so; 
but a tiny old man, who has worn out one life to no good 
purpose, and is stocking another out of it to begin again. 
The unknowingness, the innocence the sweet simplicity of 
childhood, the all-questioning observation—none of these 
are in him; but only what a sinner knew and was, when he 
left off his former trial and died with the guilt of it on him. 
We hardly know whether to laugh or be sad when we fall 
upon one of these premature old children, seeing him walk 
and hearing him talk agedly, as if getting ripe in the green. 
But here we have the oldness without the innocence—a full- 
grown, rank-grown sinner that was, tottling again upon his 
tender feet; an old, sixty-year-old man, it may be, who has 
been actually set up as a child again to make his beginnings 
of wisdom; all of which he is to do by the help of old mis- 





THE SECOND CHANCE 421 


carriages and sins, and it may be vices. Childhood, they 
say, is the hopeful thing now for him; but hapless, utterly 
hapless creature, is the child! 

Clearly enough there is no such thing possible as a sec- 
ond trial beginning at the point of childhood; that is only a 
very absurd fiction that we raise when we are playing with 
our idle regrets. The second trial, if there be one, has, of 
course, no time of childhood in it. What we call the ductili- 
ties, flexibilities, tender possibilities of childhood and family 
training are gone by. Family itself is gone by, and the 
family spheres and affections—possible only in the terms of 
family reproduction—are henceforth left behind. If con- 
scious ties of fatherly and filial relationship remain, they 
remain as to persons who have already graduated in them, 
and have them only asin memory. What there is of society 
now, in this second state, is made up of beings sole and 
separate; existing in full maturity and coming to their 
second trial in such characters and habits as they have 
shaped by their first. Almost of necessity, they will now 
be more selfish than ever; for, the unselfish industries that, 
in their first trial, were generally occupied in providing a 
home—where hospitalities should be dispensed to friends, 
and wife and children have their free supply—are now dis- 
placed by industries that only make dry providence for self. 
They are now sole monks and nuns, we may say, in their 
conventual—only monks and nuns that have not found, as 
yet, their piety—coming hither to see, if possibly the dreari- 
ness of their grown-up, blasted condition may not do some- 
thing for them. ‘To any rational mind the prospect must be 
dismally discouraging. 

Probably the very best arrangement for a second trial 
that can be conceived will be made by simply giving a new 
lease of life, that doubles the length of it here; because, in 





422 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





that case, family feelings and connections, and the wonted 
social relations of time, will to some extent be continued. 
Add another thirty, fifty, or eighty years, and let the addi- 
tion be the new trial. And what will be the result? Exactly 
the same that befell the old primeval race of reprobates be- 
fore the flood—viz., that having lived out their first five 
hundred years, they went on to live a second five hundred, 
and grow worse, instead of better, for their opportunity. 
If they wanted a second trial, they had it in the very best 
and most favorable conditions possible—far better and 
more favorable than if they had passed through death to 
receive it in the after-life; because they are not torn away 
from their kind, or from the society of the good, but are 
permitted to enjoy, in some degree, all the tender offices of 
natural affection, and live in all the bonds of family provi- 
dence and duty. And what, in fact, was proved by these 
ante-diluvian men but that, when too much of time or trial 
is given, no stringent motive for decisive choice in good is 
left. ‘Chat last five hundred years was a very generous 
allowance, given, we might say, for the amendment of their 
wretchedly bad life in the first five hundred; but, instead of 
amendment, it only made them more completely reprobate. 
Too much trial, as they found, is damage—diminishing, and 
not increasing, the chances of a good result. 

Let us not be deceived here by a certain off-hand way of 
judgment; as if the great shock to be suffered in passing to 
another world, supposing that we are to have our second 
trial there, initiated the new experience in a way to make it 
more promising. Thus, if we had actually gone through 
death, and begun to live again, having it shown us at God’s 
bar that we have made a dreadful issue of our trial, we 
should know our immortality, it will be thought, by experi- 
ment, and should have our sensibility awakened, as it were, 





THE SECOND CHANCE 423 





by a shock of tremendous discovery; and so we should be set 
in a position of immense advantage, as regards the improve- 
ment of our new opportunity. Just as every malefactor, I 
suppose, who is caught in a crime, thinks that he shall cer- 
tainly make an upright life, if now, this once, he can be 
respited and allowed another opportunity. No! he will do 
no such thing; but will pitch himself into any crime that is 
worse, about as soon as the shock of his arrest passes off, 
and he begins to act himself again. So, the prison convict 
goes his dreary round of work and solitude and silence, 
saying inwardly: “O, what a fool am I to be here! Would 
that I could live my life over again, and I would not!” 
But he will be a most remarkable felon if, when his time 
expires, he does not go out to live his life exactly over again, 
making good his return within a short six months. So we 
think a man must assuredly become a saint, if only a second 
trial after death is given him: when it will turn out as a 
matter of fact that the saints are not made by occasions, 
opportunities, or appalling necessities, least of all where the 
noblest occasions and highest opportunities and most cogent 
necessities are already trampled and lost. Great shocks felt 
or crises past have no value as respects the beginnings of a 
right life, save as they induce consideration, and by such 
consideration, make a new atmosphere of truth and feeling 
for the soul’s engagement and recovery to good. But 
where consideration has so often been freshened by new 
providences and new revelations of God, and all best capa- 
cities of truth and feeling have been mocked and hardened 
by the abuses of a life, what magic is there to be in the 
strange environments and discoveries of another state of 
being, that they are going to make men susceptible without 
susceptibilities left, and turn them back to the right which 
they have lost the sense of, and from what they have all 





424 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


their life long turned uncaringly away? Their shock of 
novelty in the transition will pass off in a very short time, 
and they will settle back into their wild, wrong habit, or will- 
fully neglected obstinacy, to choose and live and be precisely 
as before. Again: 

5. We have large material for the settlement of this 
question in our own personal experience and observation. 
The likeliest times of duty and character we every day per- 
ceive are not the last or latest, but the times of youth, and 
probably quite early youth; for the capital stock or fund 
most wanted, as regards the finest possibilities of character, 
is made up of ingenuous feeling, sentiments unmixed with 
evil-doing, unsophisticated convictions, free and pure aspira- 
tions, not of knowledges and wise sagacities, gotten by ex- 
perience. ‘These prudentials, these wise knowledges, are 
too commonly bad knowledges, gotten by irrecoverable 
losses. If we say that a soul must have them, and that, 
having gotten in a good stock of them on its first trial, it is, 
therefore, ready, on a second, to act wisely, we very cer- 
tainly mistake. ‘The sad thing is that a soul may know too 
much, obtaining knowledges that cost many times more than 
they are worth—such as come of self-damaging vices and 
the flagrant excesses of a bad life. All such ways of abuse 
create a knowledge, doubtless; but what can these deso- 
lating knowledges, these burnt-in, branded curses of an old 
and evil life, do for the immortal prospects of a soul? 
What, in fact, is the reason why a great many never can, 
or will, become true men of God here in this life; but that 
they have been going too deep into knowledge, and have 
gotten too much experience at too great a cost? Their 
knowledges are vitriol in their capabilities, eating out and 
searing over all the noblest affinities and finest aspirations 
God gave them to be the stock and possibility of their 








THE SECOND CHANCE 425 


future. And, therefore, it becomes a fixed conclusion with 
us that a man going into his trial shall make much of his 
unsophisticated age, and the noble, inborn sensitiveness of 
his early moral convictions, and be sadly, fearfully jealous 
of the wisdom he will get by their loss. This dreary and 
dry wisdom, that is going to be ripened by the practice of un- 
righteous years, can do little for the subject, however much 
he values it. His green first third of life has grand possi- 
bility of fruit; his wise last third has probably none; and 
he draws himself very close upon the discovery of this fact 
as he approaches the end of his trial. he gold-washers of 
California, having passed their dirt once through the sluice, 
drop what they call “‘the tailings’? below; and sometimes 
they discover a very little gold in these, enough to pay for 
milling them over again. But the tailings of an old, bad 
life, which has yielded no gold on the first trial—who will 
go to work on them with any least prospect of success? As 
certainly as the man understands himself, he will see that 
his good possibilities will be gone, and will feel the least 
imaginable desire of a second trial, to mill over the dregs 
of his unblest experience. We ourselves, at least know 
perfectly that nothing will come of it. 

But the new state expected, as some will perhaps remind 
us, is to be a state of punishment, and the pains of it, work- 
ing purgatorially, must have great and decisive effects. 
Whereas, the very thing best proved by observation is that 
pains are nearly unrelational as respects the improvement of 
character. The fears of pain or penalty, so much derided 
commonly by these prophets of purgatorial benefit, might 
do something as appeals to consideration and preparatives 
in that manner of repentance; but pain, pain itself, nothing. 
It even disqualifies consideration. Pain is force, necessity, 
a grinding stress of absolutism, which may do something 





426 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


in breaking down a will, but never in the world was known 
to lift up a will out of weakness and evil, or ennoble it in the 
liberty and free ascension of good. Breaking down a will 
too, be it observed, is not conversion, but catastrophe rather 
and death—yjust that which is the undergirding import and 
reality of second death. 

Observation gives us also another fact, which is even 
more impressive,—viz., that with all that is said and 
assumed and argued for, and stiflly asserted, as regards the 
fact of a second trial hereafter, the whole world tacitly con- 
cedes, nevertheless, that no such new condition is, in fact, 
expected. For no unbeliever, no practically godless and 
really apostate believer, no bad man groaning under his 
vices, no drunkard writhing under his chains, no scoffiing 
Altamont overtaken by remorse, no human creature, 
whether uninstructed Pagan or best instructed philosopher, 
and (what is most significant of all) no loosest, largest free- 
thinker, who asserts most confidently the faith of a second 
trial hereafter, goes out of life—I never heard of such a 
case—talking of the new chance now to be given him, and 
the high, free time he is going to have, in the more pro- 
pitious trial that will sutter him to mend his defects and the 
consciously bad ways that have corrupted him. All such 
advocates of a basement gospel, under the world and after 
the grave, convince themselves, by what they consider most 
indisputable and profoundly wise arguments, that their ulti- 
mation gospel, their posthumous salvation, will have power 
to mend all damage and smooth away all woes of character 
begun; but when we look to see those deep natural instincts, 
which are always the spontaneous interpreters of our hu- 
manity, giving out their indications, we find our believers 
in the underworld opportunity clinging fast to life, as if they 
had no such faith at all in them, recoiling with instinctive 


Me 





THE SECOND CHANCE 427 


shudder from death, and hailing never in glad welcome the 
better day now come to help their recovery—in which they 
may discover, as plainly as need be, themselves, that their 
arguments are one thing, and the verdict of their immortal, 
deep-discerning judgments another. hey contrive how it 
is to be, they reason, they promise, they encourage; but 
their always demonstrative nature nowhere runs up a flag of 
hope or gives any slightest indication. If the question be 
whether we are immortal, all the flags of natural hope are 
out streaming on every hill; but here expectation is dumb 
and shows no sign! 

But my object in this argument, drawing it here to a 
close, is not so much to show that no second trial is to be 
had as to show the undesirableness of it. “The matter itself 
is variously conceived. According to some, the wicked dead 
will be manipulated by long tractations in the better gospel 
of the pains, and will so, at last, be purified. According to 
others, they will be softened by long annealings under un- 
deserved and extra-comfortable indulgences. By some it is 
believed that we were not made immortal by nature, and 
shall, therefore, cease altogether if we do not take hold of 
the eternal life in Christ to make us immortal. Others 
think we were made to be immortal, but fell out of immor- 
tality in our sin, and so are to quite die out if we do not for- 
sake it. Some think that the future punishment will itself 
wear out life in the bad, and finally make a complete end 
of it. I say nothing of these or any other varieties in the 
unbeliefs current. I say nothing of eternal punishment it- 
self. One thing at a time, I am saying, one thing at a time; 
and then, having the one thing settled, as I think it now is, 
that no second trial hereafter is either to be desired or 
allowed, we have at least one very great point established, 
and can well enough allow the other questions to fare as 





428 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


they may. Make what you will of all these other questions, 
only have it as a fact made clear, which I think I have shown 
as decisively as it need be, that there is no possible advan- 
tage in a second trial promised beforehand, and that we are 
better off without the supposed advantage than with—have 
this clear, I say, and all the other last things may be left to 
find their own settlement. Enough that there is no severity 
in having but a single trial, and that, if more than one were 
offered, we should do well to petition against it. Beyond a 
question, God, in giving us our one opportunity and no 
more, fixes this close limit because one will do more for us 
than many. A greater number—two, ten, twenty—we 
could not have without unspeakable damage and loss. 

My argument appears to be thus ended, but I must not 
shut up the conclusion before it is ready. And is no better 
account then to be made, some one may ask, of the multi- 
tudes brought up under heathenism, or the drill of vice, or 
the taint of bad society? If there is no second chance for 
them, what chance have they? I admit the seeming severity 
of their lot, but a great many things are none the less true 
because they seem to be severe. They are certainly not as 
unprivileged as we commonly think. They have all great 
light. They all condemn and blame themselves. The Spirit 
of God is with them. Some of them are truly born of the 
Spirit, and all might be. At any rate, all the arguments I 
have been urging to show the absurdity of a second trial, 
apply to them as to others—they have lost the tractabilities 
of childhood; their staple of good possibility is worn out; 
they are gotten completely by the opportunity of a new be- 
ginning. We must therefore leave them to God, certain 
that he will somehow mitigate any look of hardship in 
their lot. Only coming back here on our conclusion, that 





THE SECOND CHANCE 429 


a second trial can do nothing for them, and that whatever 
else may befall them this will not. 

And since we are looking at questions raised by doubt, 
I will not shrink from naming another which I can not so 
explicitly answer; viz., the seeming look of fitness in a 
second trial for such as die in their infancy, or in youth so 
far unspent as to allow their carrying all best possibilities 
with them. Why should not such have a state given them, 
wherein they may unfold the character they are made for? 
And why, it may be asked in reply, were they not kept here 
to do it, where the advantages are so many and so evidently 
great? Perhaps we can as little answer one question as the 
other. However, we do not certainly know that any one 
of these infants and youths is not taken away to another and 
more genial state, there to be unfolded and trained, just 
because there are seeds of holy possibility already planted 
in them which might otherwise be extirpated. Their second 
state is not, in that case, their second trial any more than 
that of such as die in the full maturity of a sanctified habit. 
In these young-life souls there may certainly be rich stores 
of rudimental possibility, waiting for the educating forces 
of a pure, sweet world, and it may be that so many are 
carried forward thus early, to make a large infusion of un- 
sophisticated character than a world of natures fully ma- 
tured would reveal. 

Here, then, we are, my friends, face to face with our 
conclusion; and a most serious one it is. It raises questions 
for us that we can not wisely push aside. All of us are on 
our way, in our one decisive lifetime trial; and what are we 
doing with it? How is it turning? Some of us are but a 
little way advanced in it, and all the fine possibilities of our 
outfit are still on hand, scarcely if at all abridged. Great, 
my young friends, is your advantage, greater than if a hun- 


430 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


dred other stages of probation were promised you. Pre- 
cious are the gifts, and precious are the moments as they 
fly. Act, every one, as if this eventful experiment were now 
on its way and passing rapidly. Allow no expectation of 
another to beguile you. Bring in all your powers, and center 
them on this point of crisis, now so close at hand, knowing 
that God’s friendship can not be too soon seetured. Others 
of your number, it may be, are getting farther on. A con- 
siderable or even principal part of their trial, it may be, is 
now gone by. Is it going well? If the tree is to lie as it 
falls, is it falling rightly? Have you good confidence of 
the end? Once for all, remember, once for all. And it is 
appointed unto men once for all to die, but after that the 
judgment. 


Sins and Sorrows of 
the City 





THOMAS GUTHRIE 


HOMAS GUTHRIE was born at Brechin, Scot- 

land, on July 12, 1803, and died at St. Leonards on 
February 24th, 1873. His first charge was at Arbilot, 
where for seven years he was minister of the Established 
Church. It was during these years that he adopted the 
pictorial method of preaching, for which he was shortly to 
become famous. He had an afternoon service for the young 
people at which he catechised them on the morning sermon. 
He very soon discovered that the portions of the sermons 
which they remembered were the illustrations. “This de- 
termined him to cultivate an illustrative style. Almost 
every printed sermon by Guthrie opens with some kind of 
illustration or anecdote. He was wont to speak of the 
three chief homiletic rules as the ‘““Three P’s’—Painting, 
Proving and Persuading. But with him the chief thing 
was the painting. In 1837 Guthrie became minister of 
Old Greyfriars, Edinburgh, and in 1840 of St. John’s 
Church, Edinburgh. He at once attracted attention and 
for a period of thirty-five years his vast popularity never 
waned. He had nothing of the Scottish taste for meta- 
physics, nor was he a dreamer or a mystic. His themes 
are commonplace, and his arrangement ordinary and 
mechanical. Yet, in the annals of the Scottish pulpit 
none has surpassed him in the ability to draw and hold 
great throngs, year after year. It is impossible to define 
the secret of any preacher’s power. But in the case of 
Guthrie his, at that time novel, dramatic and pictorial 
power undoubtedly played a large part in his extraordinary 
popularity. Guthrie was not only a great preacher, but a 
great humanitarian. The fine statue to Guthrie on Princes 
Street, Edinburgh, shows him with two street Arabs taking 
refuge under his arms. ‘This is in commemoration of the 
Ragged Schools which Guthrie founded for the protection 


431 





432 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


and instruction of the homeless and destitute children of 
Edinburgh. Dr. James McCosh, afterward President of 
Princeton College, was a neighbor to Guthrie when he was 
at Arbilot. Commenting on his preaching, Dr. McCosh 
says: “Some hard men thought of him that his discourses 
were not very logical; some finical men and women re- 
garded his illustrations rather vivid; but they all went to 
hear him because they got their hearts warmed.” 

The sermon selected for this volume, “Sins and Sorrows 
of the City,” in its noble introduction reveals Guthrie’s fine 
gift of description. “The sermon is one that is still terribly 
appropriate in Scotland. 


Sins and Sorrows of the City 
“When he beheld the city, he wept over it” (Luke 19:41). 


HERE is a remarkable phenomenon to be seen on 

certain parts of our own coast. Strange to say, it 

proves, notwithstanding such expressions as the 
stable and solid land, that it is not the land but the sea which 
is the stable element. On some summer day, when there is 
not a wave to rock her, nor breath of wind to fill her sail 
or fan a cheek, you launch your boat upon the waters, and, 
pulling out beyond lowest tide mark, you idly le upon her 
bows to catch the silvery glance of a passing fish, or watch 
the movements of the many curious creatures that travel the 
sea’s sandy bed, or, creeping out of their rocky homes, wan- 
der its tangled mazes. If the traveller is surprised to find a 
deep-sea shell embedded in the marbles of a mountain peak, 
how great is your surprise to see beneath you a vegetation 
foreign to the deep! Below your boat, submerged many 
feet beneath the surface of the lowest tide, away down in 
these green crystal depths, you see no rusting anchor, no 
mouldering remains of some shipwrecked one, but in the 
standing stumps of trees you discover the mouldering 
vestiges of a forest, where once the wild cat prowled, and 
the birds of heaven, singing their loves, had nestled and 
nursed their young. In counterpart to those portions of our 
coast where sea-hollowed caves, with sides the waves have 
polished, and floors still strewed with shells and sand, now 
stand high above the level of the strongest stream-tides, 
there stand these dead decaying trees—entombed in the 
deep. A strange phenomenon, which admits of no other ex- 
planation, than this, that there the coast line has sunk be- 
neath its ancient level. 


433 





434 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


Many of our cities present a phenomenon as melancholy 
to the eye of a philanthropist, as the other is interesting to 
a philosopher, or geologist. In their economical, educa- 
tional, moral and religious aspects, certain parts of this city 
bear palpable evidence of a corresponding subsidence. Not 
a single house, nor a block of houses, but whole streets, once 
from end to end the abodes of decency, and industry, and 
wealth, and rank, and piety, have been engulphed. A flood 
of ignorance, and misery, and sin, now breaks and roars 
above the top of their highest tenements. Nor do the old 
stumps of a forest, still standing up erect beneath the sea- 
wave, indicate a greater change, a deeper subsidence, than 
the relics of ancient grandeur, and the touching memorials 
of piety which yet linger about these wretched dwellings, 
like evening twilight on the hills—like some traces of 
beauty on a corpse. The unfurnished floor, the begrimed 
and naked walls, the stifling, sickening atmosphere, the 
patched and dusty window—through which a sunbeam, like 
hope, is faintly stealing, the ragged, hunger-bitten and sad- 
faced children, the rufhan man, the heap of straw where 
some wretched mother, in muttering dreams, sleeps off last 
night’s debauch, or lies unshrouded and uncoffined in the 
ghastliness of a hopeless death, are sad scenes. We have 
often looked on them. And they appear all the sadder for 
the restless play of fancy. Excited by some vestiges of a 
fresco-painting that still looks out from the foul and 
broken plaster, the massive marble rising over the cold and 
cracked hearth-stone, an elaborately carved cornice too high 
for shivering cold to pull it down for fuel, some stucco flow- 
ers or fruit yet pendant on the crumbling ceiling, fancy, 
kindled by these, calls up the scenes and actors of other 
days—when beauty, elegance and fashion graced these 
lonely halls, and plenty smoked on groaning tables, and 


n 





SINS AND SORROWS OF THE CITY 435 


where these few cinders, gathered from the city dust-heap, 
are feebly smouldering, hospitable fires roared up the chim- 
ney. 

But there is that in and about these houses which bears 
witness of a deeper subsidence, a yet sadder change. Bent 
on some mission of mercy, you stand at the foot of a dank 
and filthy stair. It conducts you to the crowded rooms of 
a tenement, where—with the exception of some old decent 
widow who has seen better days, and when her family are 
all dead, and her friends are all gone, still clings to God 
and her faith in the dark hour of adversity and amid the 
wreck of fortune—from the cellar-dens below to the garrets 
beneath the roof-tree, you shall find none either reading 
their Bible, or even with a Bible to read. Alas! of prayer, 
of morning and evening psalms, of earthly or heavenly 
peace, it may be said that the place that once knew them, 
knows them no more. But before you enter the door-way, 
raise your eyes to the stone above it. Dumb, it speaks of 
other and better times. Carved in Greek or Latin, or our 
own mother tongue, you decipher such texts as these :— 
‘‘Peace be to this house.”’ ‘Except the Lord build the house, 
they labor in vain that build it.”’ ‘“‘We have a building of 
God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” 
‘Fear God’’; or this, “Love your neighbor.” Like the 
mouldering remnants of a forest that once resounded with 
the melody of birds, but hears nought now save the angry 
dash or melancholy moan of breaking waves, these vestiges 
of piety furnish a gauge which enables us to measure how 
low in these dark localities the whole stratum of society 
has sunk. 

Now there are forces in nature which, heaving up the 
crust of our earth, may convert the sea bed again into for- 
est or corn land. At this moment these forces are in active 





436 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





operation. Working slowly, yet with prodigious power, 
they are now raising the coasts of Sweden in the old world 
and of Chile in the new. And who knows but these sub- 
terranean agencies, elevating our own coasts, may yet re- 
store verdure to those deep sea sands—giving back to the 
plough its soil, to waving pines their forest land. And 
thus on our shores, redeemed from the grasp of the ocean 
in some future era, golden harvests may fall to the reaper’s 
song, and tall forests to'the woodman’s axe. We know not 
whether this shall happen. But I do know that there is a 
force at work in this world—gentle, yet powerful—com- 
monly slow in action, but always sure in its results, which, 
mightier than volcanic fires, pent-up vapor, or rocking earth- 
quake, is adequate to raise the most sunken masses of so- 
ciety, and restore the lowest and longest neglected districts 
of our cities to their old level—to set them on the platform 
even of a higher Christianity. 

We cannot despair so long as we do not forget, that the 
power of God, and the wisdom of God, and the grace of 
God, having nothing to do within our shores which they 
have not done already. Are our lapsed classes rude and 
uncultivated, ignorant and vicious? So were our fore- 
fathers, when Christianity landed on this island. She took 
possession of it in Jesus’ name, and conquered bold savages, 
whom the Romans could never subdue, by the mild yet 
mighty power of the Gospel. God’s “‘hand is not shortened 
that it cannot save, nor is his ear heavy that it cannot hear.” 
Therefore, whatever length of time may be required to 
evangelize our city masses, however long we may be living 
before the period when a “nation shall be born in a day,” 
whatever trials of patience we may have to endure, what- 
ever tears we may have to shed over our cities, our tears 
are not such as Jesus wept, when he beheld Jerusalem. 





SINS AND SORROWS OF THE CITY 437 


No. Jerusalem was sealed to ruin—doomed beyond re- 
demption. Our brethren, our cities are not so. We have 
not to mourn as those who have no hope. As on a summer 
day I have seen the sky at once so shine and shower, that 
every raindrop was changed by sunbeams into a falling dia- 
mond, so hopes mingle here with fears, and the promises 
of the gospel shed sunlight on pious sorrows. Weep we 
may; weep we should—weep and work, weep and pray. But 
ever let our tears be such as Jesus shed beside the tomb of 
Lazarus, when, while weeping, groaning, he bade the by- 
standers roll away the stone—anticipating the moment 
when the grave at his command would give up its dead, 
and Lazarus be folded, a living brother, in the arms that, 
tour days ago, had swathed his corpse. Be such our tears 
and anticipations. Sustained by them we shall work all 
the better; and all the sooner shall our heavenly Father em- 
brace the most wretched of these wretched outcasts. 

We have turned your attention to the extent of intem- 
perance, let us now 

Secondly, Attend to the effects of this vice. 

The Spartans, a brave, and, although heathens, in many 
respects a virtuous people, held intemperance in the deep- 
est abhorrence. When Christian parents initiate their chil- 
dren in drinking habits, and—as we have seen and won- 
dered at—teach them to carry their glass to infant lips, 
copy whom they may, the wise old Spartans are not their 
model. They were not more careful to train the youth of 
their country to athletic exercises, and from their boyhood 
and almost their mother’s breasts to “endure hardship as 
good soldiers’ of Sparta, than to rear them up in habits 
of strictest, sternest temperance. It formed a regular 
branch of their national education. Why should it not of 
ours? Jt would be an incalculable blessing to the commun- 





438 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


ity. It would do incalculably more to promote domestic 
comfort, to guard the welfare of families, and secure the 
public good, than other branches that, while they go to im- 
prove the taste and polish the mind, put no real pith or 
power into the man. Well, once a year these Greeks as- 
sembled their slaves, and having compelled them to drink 
to intoxication, they turned them out—all reeling, stagger- 
ing, besotted, brutalized—into a great arena, that the 
youths who filled its benches might go home from this spec- 
tacle of degradation to shun the wine-cup, and cultivate the 
virtues of sobriety. Happy country! thrice happy land! 
where drunkenness was to be seen but once a year, and 
formed but an annual spectacle. Alas! we have no need to 
employ such unjustifiable means even for so good an end! 
We do not require to get up any annual show, from the pul- 
pit to tell, or on the stage of a theatre to represent, its ac- 
cursed, and direful, and disgusting effects. The lion is daily 
ravaging on our streets. He goes about “seeking whom he 
may devour.” 

Once a year, indeed, when church-courts meet, our city 
may present a spectacle which fools regard with indifference, 
but wise men with compassion and fear. A pale and hag- 
gard man, bearing the title of “‘Reverend,”’ stands at the 
bar of his church. Not daring to look up, he bends there 
with his head buried in his hands, blushes on his face, his 
lips quivering, and a hell raging, burning within him, as he 
thinks of home, a broken-hearted wife, and the little ones 
so soon to leave that dear sweet home, to shelter their in- 
nocent heads where best, all beggared and disgraced, they 
may. “Ah, my brother’ there! And ah, my brethren here, 
learn to ‘“‘watch and pray, that ye enter not into tempta- 
tion.” See there the issue of all a mother’s anxieties, and a 
father’s self-denying and parsimonious toil, to educate their 





SINS AND SORROWS OF THE CITY 439 


promising, studious boy. In this deep darkness has set for- 
ever a brilliant college career. Alas! what an end to the 
solemn day of ordination, and the bright day of marriage, 
and all those Sabbaths when an affectionate people hung on 
his eloquent lips! Oh! if this sacred office, if the constant 
handling of things divine, if hours of study spent over the 
word of God, if frequent scenes of death, with their most 
awful and sobering solemnities, if the irredeemable ruin into 
which degradation from the holy office plunges a man and 
his house along with him, if the unspeakable heinousness of 
this sin in one who held the post of a sentinel, and was 
charged with the care of souls—if these do not fortify and 
fence us against excess, then, in the name of God, “‘let him 
that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” 

On leaving a church-court, where he has seen so strange 
and dreadful a spectacle as a man of cultivated mind, a man 
of literary habits, a man of honorable position, a man of 
sacred character, sacrifice all,—the cause of religion, the 
bread of his family, the interests of his children, the happi- 
ness of his wife, his character, his soul,—all, to this base 
indulgence, no man, after such a terrible proof of the might 
and mastery of this tyrant vice, will be astonished at any- 
thing he may encounter in our streets. Yet if the soul of 
Paul was “stirred within him,’——stirred to its deepest 
depths,—when he saw the idolatry of Athens, I think that 
he who can walk from this neighboring castle to yonder 
palace, nor groan in spirit, must have a heart about as hard 
as the pavement that he walks on. ‘The degradation of 
humanity, the ragged poverty, the squalid misery, the suffer- 
ing childhood, the pining, dying infancy, oh, how do these 
obliterate all the romance of the scene, and make the most 
picturesque street in Christendom one of the most painful 
to travel. ‘They call the street in Jerusalem, along which 





440) GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


tradition says that a bleeding Saviour bore his cross, the 
Via Dolorosa; and I have thought that our own street was 
baptized in the sorrows of as mournful a name. With so 
many countenances that have misery stamped on them as 
plain as if it were burned in with a red-hot iron—hunger 
staring at us out of these hollow eyes—drink-palsied men, 
drink-blotched and bloated women—sad and sallow infants 
who pine away into slow death, with their weary heads lying 
so pitifully on the shoulders of some half de-humanized 
woman—this poor little child, who never smiles, without 
shoe or stocking on his ulcered feet, shivering, creeping, 
limping along with the bottle in his emaciated hand, to buy 
a parent drink with the few pence that, poor hungry crea- 
ture, he would fain spend on a loaf of bread, but dare not— 
the whole scene is like the roll of the prophet, “written 
within and without, lamentations, mourning, and woe.” 
How has it wrung our heart to see a poor ragged boy look- 
ing greedily in at a window on the food he has no one to 
give him, and dare not touch,—to watch him, as he alter- 
nately lifted his naked feet, lest they should freeze to the 
icy pavement. He starves in the midst of abundance. Neg- 
lected among a people who would take more pity on an ill- 
used horse or a dying dog, he is a castaway upon the land. 
Of the throngs that pass heedlessly by him to homes of com- 
fort, intent on business or on pleasure, there is no one cares 
for him. Poor wretch! O if he knew a Bible which none 
has taught him, how might he plant himself before us, and 
bar our way to church or prayer-meeting, saying, as he fixed 
on us an imploring eye, ‘“ ‘Pure religion and undefiled before 
God’ is to feed me—is to clothe these naked limbs—is to 
fill up these hollow cheeks—is to pour the light of knowl- 
edge into this darkened soul—is to save me—is not to go 
to house of God or place of prayer, but first coming with 





SINS AND SORROWS OF THE CITY 44] 


me to our miserable home, ‘to visit the widow and fatherless 
in their afflictions, and keep thy garments unspotted from 
the world.’ ”’ 

You can test the truth of these statements. You have 
only to walk along the street to verify them. Look there! 
In that corpse you see the cold, dead body of one of the 
best and godliest mothers it was ever our privilege to 
know. She hadason. He was the stay of her widowhood 
—so kind, so affectionate, so loving. Some are taken away 
from the “evil to come’’; laid in the lap of mother earth, 
safe beneath the grave’s green sod, they hear not and heed 
not the storm that rages above. Such was not her happy 
fortune. She lived to see that son a disgrace, and all the 
promises of his youth blighted and gone. He was drawn 
into habits of intemperance. On her knees she pleaded with 
him. On her knees she prayed for him. How mysterious 
are the ways of Providence! She did not live to see him 
changed; and with such thorns in her pillow, such daggers, 
planted by such a hand, in her heart, she could not live. 
She sank under these griefs, and died of a broken heart. 
We told him so. With bitter, burning tears he owned it; 
charging himself with his mother’s death—confessing him- 
self a mother’s murderer. Crushed with sorrow, and all 
alone, he went to see the body. Alone, beside that cold, 
dead, unreproaching mother, he knelt down and wept out 
his terrible remorse. After a while he rose. Unfortunately 
—how unfortunate that a spirit bottle should have been 
left there—his eye fell on the old tempter. You have seen 
the iron approach the magnet. Call it spell, call it fascina- 
tion, call it anything bad, demoniacal, but as the iron is 
drawn to the magnet, or as a fluttering bird, fascinated by 
the burning eye and glittering skin of the serpent, walks 
into its envenomed, expanded jaws, so was he drawn to the 





442 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


bottle. Wondering at his delay, they entered the room; and 
now the bed holds two bodies—a dead mother, and her 
dead-drunk son. What a sight! What a humbling, horrible 
spectacle! And what a change from those happy times, 
when night drew her peaceful curtains around the same son 
and mother—he, a sweet babe, sleeping, angel-like, within 
her loving arms! ‘‘How is the gold become dim, the most 
fine gold changed!” 

Or look there. The bed beside which you have at other 
visits conversed and prayed with one who, in the very bloom 
and flower of youth, was withering away under a slow de- 
cline—is empty. The living need it; and so its long, and 
spent, and weary tenant lies now, stretched out in death, on 
the top of two rude chests beside the window. And as you 
stand by the body—contemplating it—in that pallid face 
lighted up by a passing sun-gleam you see, along with lin- 
gering traces of no common beauty, the calmness and peace 
which were her latter end. But in this hot, sultry, summer 
weather, why lies she there uncoffined? Drink has left us 
to do that last office for the dead. Her father—how un- 
worthy the name of father—when his daughter pled with 
him for his soul, pled with him for her mother, pled with 
him for her little sister, had stood by her dying pillow to 
damn her—fiercely damning her to her face. He has left 
his poor, dead child to the care of others. With the wages 
he retains for drink, he refuses to buy that lifeless form 
a coffin and a grave! 

But what emotions do the cases I have told you of 
awaken? ‘To be matched by many and surpassed by some 
that I could tell—samples of the stock, what passion can 
they, what passion ought they to move, but the deepest in- 
dignation? Nor would I, however fiercely it may run, seek 
to stem the flood. ‘The deeper it flows, the higher it rises, 





SINS AND SORROWS OF THE CITY 443 


the stronger it swells and rolls, so much the better. I would 
not seek to stem, but to direct it—directing it not against 
the victims, but against the vice. 

I pray you do not hate the drunkard; he hates himself. 
Do not despise him; oh, he cannot sink so low in your opin- 
ion as he is sunk in his own. Your hatred and contempt 
may rivet, but will never rend his chains. Lend a kind hand 
to pluck him from the mire. With a strong hand shatter 
that bowl—remove the temptations which, while he hates, 
he cannot resist. Hate, abhor, tremble at his sin. And for 
pity’s sake, for God’s sake, for Christ’s sake, for humanity’s 
sake, rouse yourselves to the question, What can be done? 
Without heeding others—whether they follow or whether 
they stay—rushing down to the beach, throw yourself into 
the boat, push away, and bend on the oar, like a man, to 
the wreck. Say, I will not stand by and see my fellow-crea- 
tures perish. ‘They are perishing. To save them I will do 
anything. What luxury will I not give up? What indul- 
gence will I not abstain from? What customs, what shackles 
of old habits will I not break, that these hands may be freer 
to pluck the drowning from the deep? God my help, his 
word my law, the love of his Son my ruling motive, I shall 
never balance a poor personal indulgence against the good 
of my country and the welfare of mankind. Brethren, 
such resolutions, such high, and holy, and sustained, and 
self-denying efforts, the height of this evil demands. 

Before God and man, before the church and the world, 
I impeach Intemperance. I charge it with the murder of 
innumerable souls. In this country, blessed with freedom 
and plenty, the word of God and the liberties of true re- 
ligion, I charge it as the cause—whatever be their source 
elsewhere—of almost all the poverty, and almost all the 
crime, and almost all the misery, and almost all the ignor- 





444 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


ance, and almost all the irreligion, that disgrace and afflict 
the land. “I am not mad, most noble Festus. I speak the 
words of truth and soberness.”’ I do in my conscience be- 
lieve that these intoxicating stimulants have sunk into per- 
dition more men and women than found a grave in that de- 
luge which swept over the highest hill-tops—engulphing a 
world, of which but eight were saved. As compared with 
other vices, it may be said of this, “Saul has slain his thou- 
sands, but David his tens of thousands.” 

3. Consider what cure we should apply to this evil. 

The grand and only sovereign remedy for the evils of 
this world is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. I believe 
that. There is no man more convinced of that than I am. 
But he rather hinders than helps the cause of religion who 
shuts his eyes to the fact, that, in curing souls, as in curing 
bodies, many things may be important as auxiliaries to the 
remedy, which cannot properly be considered as remedies. 
In the day of his resurrection Lazarus owed his life to 
Christ; but they that day did good service, who rolled away 
the stone. ‘They were allies and auxiliaries. And to such 
in the battle which the gospel has to wage with this monster 
vice, allow me in closing this discourse to direct your atten- 
tion. And I remark— 

First, That the legislature may render essential service 
in this cause. 

This is an alliance between church and state which no 
man could quarrel with. Happy for our country, if by such 
help, the state would thus fulfil to the church—the woman 
of prophecy—this apocalyptic vision:—‘‘And the serpent 
cast out of his mouth, water as a flood, after the woman, 
that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 
And the earth helped the woman. And the earth opened 





SINS AND SORROWS OF THE CITY 445 


her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon 
cast out of his mouth.” 

Many people feel no sympathy with the sufferings of 
the lowest class. “They are not hard-hearted; but engrossed 
with their own affairs, or, raised far above them in social 
position, they are ignorant of their temptations, and trials. 
Therefore they talk ignorantly about them; and seldom 
more so than when they repudiate all attempts of the legis- 
lature by restrictive Acts of Parliament to abate, if not 
abolish, this evil. They have their remedies. Some plead 
for better lodgings and sanitary measures; which we also 
regard as highly valuable. Some put their faith in educa- 
tion—an agent, the importance of which, to the rising gen- 
eration, it is impossible to over-estimate. Some seem to 
have no confidence in anything but the preaching of the 
gospel. To one or other of these, or the combined influence 
of them all, they trust for the cure of drunkenness—repudi- 
ating and deprecating all legislative interference. Now, I 
should like as much as they to see the very lowest of our 
people so elevated in their tastes, with minds so cultivated, 
and hearts so sanctified, that they could resist the tempta- 
tions which on every hand beset them. But thousands, tens 
of thousands, are unable to do so. ‘They must be helped 
with crutches till they have acquired the power to walk. 
They must be fenced round with every possible protection 
until they are “rooted and grounded in the love of God.” 
In the country I have often seen a little child, with her sun- 
browned face and long golden locks, sweet as any flower she 
pressed beneath her naked foot, merry as any bird that sung 
from bush or brake, driving the cattle home; and with fear- 
less hand controlling the sulky leader of the herd, as with 
armed forehead and colossal strength he quailed before that 
slight image of God. Some days ago, I saw a different 





446 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


sight—such a child, with hanging head, no music in his 
voice, nor blush but that of shame upon his cheek, leading 
home a drunken father along the public street. “The man 
required to be led, guided, guarded. And into a condition 
hardly less helpless large masses of our people have sunk. 
I don’t wonder that they drink. 

Look at their unhappy and most trying circumstances. 
Many of them are born with a propensity to this vice. They 
suck it in with a mother’s milk; for it is a well-ascertained 
fact that other things are hereditary besides cancer, and 
consumption, and insanity. The drunken parent transmits 
to his children a proneness to his fatal indulgence. The foul 
atmosphere which many of them breathe, the hard labor by 
which many of them earn their bread, produce a prostration 
which seeks in stimulants something to rally the system, 
nor will be debarred from their use by any prospect of dan- 
ger, or experience of a corresponding reaction. With our 
improved tastes, our books, our recreations, our domestic 
comforts, we have no adequate idea of the temptations to 
which the poor are exposed, and from which it is the truest 
kindness to protect them. ‘They are cold, and the glass is 
warmth. ‘They are hungry, and drink is food. They are 
miserable, and there is laughter in the flowing cup. They 
are sunk in their own esteem, and the bowl or the bottle 
surrounds the drunkard with a bright-coloured halo of self- 
respect, and, so long as the fumes are in his brain, he feels 
himself a man. “They drink to forget their poverty, and 
remember their misery no more.” 

The removal of the temptation may not always cure the 
drunkard. But it will certainly check the growth of his 
class, and prevent many others from learning his habits— 
until sanguine men might entertain the blessed hope that, 
like the monsters of a former epoch, which now lie en- 





SINS AND SORROWS OF THE CITY 447 


tombed in the rocks, drunkards may be numbered among 
the extinct races, classified with the winged serpents and 
gigantic sloths that were once inhabitants of our globe. 
The subject before us is eminently calculated to illus- 
trate the profound remark of one, who was well acquainted 
with the temptations and circumstances of the poor. He 
said :—“‘It is justice, not charity, that the poor most need.” 
And all we ask is, that you be as kind to them as to the 
rich; that you guard the one class as carefully as you guard 
the other from the temptations peculiar to their lot. I am 
sorry to say—but truth and the interests of those who, how- 
ever sunk and degraded, are bone of our bone and flesh of 
our flesh, require that I should say—that this is not done. 
The “poor,” says Amos, “‘are sold for a pair of shoes,” and 
with us they are sold to save the wealth of the rich. In this 
I make no charge which I am not prepared to prove. For 
example :—Certain measures were proposed in Parliament 
with the view of promoting the comforts and improving the 
moral habits of the common people. It was admitted that 
these, by introducing weak French and Rhenish wines in 
room of ardent spirits and strongly intoxicating liquors, 
would be attended with the most happy and desirable result. 
Yet they were rejected. And rejected because their adop- 
tion, although it saved the people, would damage the rev- 
enue. As if there was not money enough in the pockets of 
the wealthy, through means of other taxes, to meet the 
debts of the nation and sustain the honor of the Crown. 
How different the tone of morals even in China! ‘The min- 
isters of that country proved to their sovereign that he 
would avert all danger of war with Britain, and also add 
immensely to his revenue, if he would consent to legalize the 
trade in opium. He refused, firmly refused, nobly refused. 
And it were a glorious day for Britain, a happy day for ten 





448 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


thousand miserable homes —a day for bonfires, and jubi- 
_ lant cannon, and merry bells, and bannered processions, and 
holy thanksgivings, which saw our beloved Queen rise from 
her throne, and in the name of this great nation address to 
her Lords and Commons the memorable speech of that 
pagan monarch :—‘I will never consent to raise my revenue 
out of the ruin and vices of my people.” With such a spirit 
may God imbue our land!—‘Even so come, Lord Jesus. 
Come quickly.” 

Secondly, That the example of abstaining from all in- 
toxicating liquors would greatly aid in the cure of this evil. 

No principle is more clearly inculcated in the word of 
God, and none, carried out into action, makes a man more 
Christ-like than self-denial. “If meat make my brother to 
offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I 
make my brother to offend.” ‘That is the principle of tem- 
perance, as I hold it. I cannot agree with those, who, in 
their anxiety for good, attempt to prove too much, and 
condemn as positively sinful the moderate use of stimulants. 
But still less sympathy have I with those who dare to 
call in Jesus Christ to lend his holy countenance to their 
luxurious boards. It is shocking to hear men attempt to 
prove, by the word of God, that it is a duty to drink—to 
fill the wine-cup and drain off the glass. 

I was able to use without abusing. But seeing to what 
monstrous abuse the thing had grown, seeing in what a mul- 
titude of cases the use was followed by the abuse, and see- 
ing how the example of the upper classes, the practices of 
ministers, and the habits of church members were used to 
shield and sanction indulgences so often carried to excess, 
I saw the case to be one for the apostle’s warning :—‘‘Take 
heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a 
stumbling block to them that are weak.”’ 


a 





SINS AND SORROWS OF THE CITY 449 


This moral revolution in our national habits, this great- 
est of all reforms, everyone can engage in. Women and 
children, as well as men, can help it onwards to the goal. 
It is attainable, if we would only attempt it. It is hopeful, 
if we would but give the subject a fair consideration. Why 
should not the power of Christianity, by its mighty argu- 
ments of love and self denial, lead to the disuse of intoxi- 
cating stimulants, and so achieve that which Mohammedan- 
ism and Hindooism have done? Miust the cross pale be- 
fore the crescent? Must the divine religion of Jesus, with 
that God-man upon the tree for its invincible ensign, blush 
before such rivals, and own itself unable to accomplish 
what false faiths have done? Tell us not that it cannot be 
done. It can be done. It has been done—done by the en- 
emies of the cross of Christ—done by the followers of an 
impostor—done by worshippers of stocks and stones. “And 
their rock is not like our Rock.’ If that is true,—and it 
cannot be gainsaid—I may surely claim from every man 
who has faith in God, and loves Jesus, and is willing to 
live for the benefit of mankind, a candid, a full, and a 
prayerful consideration of this subject. But, whatever be 
the means, whatever the weapons you will judge it best 
to employ, when trumpets are blowing in Zion, and the 
alarm is sounding and echoing in God’s holy mountain, come 
—come to the help of the Lord against the mighty, crowd 
to the standard, throw yourself into the thick of battle, and 
die in harness fighting for the cause of Jesus. So ‘“‘to live 
is Christ, and to die is gain.” 


thw." 
2 Soe, 


sort 


ie 
rs 
! 





Future Punishment 





HENRY WARD BEECHER 
ENRY WARD BEECHER is, perhaps, the great- 


est name in the history of the American pulpit. He 
was the son of Lyman Beecher, a distinguished preacher, 
theologian and reformer. He was educated at Amherst 
College and was graduated from Lane Theological Semi- 
nary, of the Presbyterian Church, at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 
1837. He then became pastor of the Presbyterian Church 
at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, and, two years later, of the 
Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis. In 1847 he 
was called to the pastorate of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, 
where he preached until his death in 1887. 

Under Beecher’s preaching Plymouth Church became a 
national platform. A strong anti-slavery man, Beecher 
took a prominent part in the ante-bellum discussions about 
slavery, and on one occasion auctioned a slave girl from his 
pulpit. During the Civil War, he made a trip to England 
and delivered a remarkable series of addresses which did 
much to create in Great Britain a spirit favorable to the 
cause of the North. 

A master of clear English, broad in outlook and 
catholic in sympathies, gifted in imagination and dramatic 
in utterance, Beecher was the incarnation of a wonderful 
combination of pulpit gifts. He was rather wont to boast 
of his little pulpit preparation, but his printed sermons, 
taken down by a stenographer, do not show such lack of 
preparation. It is evident that for the verbal expression he 
depended upon the inspiration of the hour; but he had 
apparently thought long and deeply before he spoke. Like 
most of the great preachers of the past, Beecher was a 
topical, rather than a textual or expository, preacher. 

His sermon on Future Punishment is an excellent exam- 
ple of his pulpit style, showing the warmth of his sym- 
pathies and, at the same time, his loyal adherence to the 
Word of God. Beecher “knew what was in man,” and 
his sermons have an universal appeal. 


451 





Future Punishment 


“And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but 
the righteous into life eternal” (Matthew 25:46). 


AST Sunday morning I spoke to you of Heaven, 
showing the method of instruction which the sacred 
Scriptures adopt respecting the future spirit-world. 

Far less agreeable, but scarcely less important, is the teach- 
ing of Holy Scripture in respect to the future punishment 
of the finally wicked. 

The two grand truths—victorious virtue crowned with 
happiness, and wickedness overthrown, sad and suffering,— 
go through the New Testament as light and shadow wait 
on each other through physical nature. 

The same method of representation is followed in de- 
picting the future punishment of the wicked as in painting 
the joy of the righteous. A scientific accuracy is impossible. 
Our present life has not the terms or the experience which 
will interpret to us in the body the truths which are super- 
sensuous, ethereal, and which imply development into a con- 
dition for which this state of being has only analogies, but 
no actual knowledge. All instruction in reference to. the 
other state is therefore proximate and representative, and 
of necessity employs, not the scientific reason, but imagina- 
tion and the reason under it. For the imagination is not 
merely a decorative fancy. It is the fundamental element 
and quality which constitutes faith. It is that faculty by 
which the soul is able to discern clearly invisible truth in 
distinction from material and sensuous truth. It is of prime 
importance in education. And no book of instruction in 
the world ever made larger use of imagination as the chan- 
nel through which to give instruction than the Bible. 


453 





454 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


Intelligent commentators and preachers, recognizing 
the majestic beauty of the pictures of heaven, have long, 
and with almost unbroken consent, taught that these were 
not to be taken literally: they were addressed to the imagi- 
nation, and designed to kindle hope, joy and courage. And 
in the parallel of the suffering state hereafter, the same 
method of teaching exists. All the experiences which men 
have had of trouble, all the things which have in them the 
power of suffering, are marshalled to create in the soul a 
powerful conception of penalty. And penalty is the thing, 
and not the special method which these figures shadow out. 
Fire and brimstone, darkness or lurid light, the sword, scor- 
pions, gnawing worms, storms, thunder and lightning, and, 
from the personal experience of men, fear, overthrow, des- 
potic captivity, torments of thought and feeling—these, as 
it were, are simply the pigments which are employed to 
render a picture of the solemn fact that as sin and penalty 
are joined together in this life, so they are in the life to 
come; and that this conjunction of virtue with pleasure and 
sin with pain is part of a universal and everlasting constitu- 
tion; and not peculiar to this life. 

These figures are not, then, designed to be taken as lit- 
eral facts. The taking them as such has worked immense 
mischief, and will work more. Yet they point to the in- 
visible spiritual truth which will be to our soul hereafter 
what these pictures now are to our imagination. ‘There 
will not be fire; and yet, there will be a quick sense of 
suffering of which the effect of fire is a fit suggestion. There 
will not be literal scorpions and gnawing worms; but thou- 
sands of men already know that there are feelings of remorse 
that gnaw the soul worse than ever worm gnawed the body. 
And these are but emblems of great spiritual truth; but the 
truths are spiritual, and not carnal nor sensuous. 


7 ae 





FUTURE PUNISHMENT 455 





1. There is not another teaching of the Bible that comes 
home to us as does this truth of punishment in the future 
life. On this subject men cannot keep down the heart while 
they are coolly weighing the evidence. Because, in the first 
place, it strikes the very soul of soul in each one. It strikes 
through uncultured fear. Or, if men be cultivated, and 
accept this truth, then all that which they gain by refinement, 
all the sense of personal worth, all the value of character, 
all estimate of magnitude in one’s own being, is put at peril. 
And the sense of loss is more to those that are refined and 
cultured.than to the ignorant can be the sense of fear. But 
it comes home to our affections, also. My brethren, it is one 
thing to read in the Bible the chapter as I read it in your 
hearing this morning, and other such passages, and another 
thing to ponder them in the face of a dead child. It may 
not be difficult for a theologian to sit in his chair and reason 
abstractly, rebutting and counter-thrusting in argument; but 
when he is called to follow his own son who, through a 
doubtful or an openly ignominious career, has gone out of 
life, it is not in human nature any longer to reason in the 
same calm mood. To apply this truth in the intensity of 
agonized love following its lost companion, like another 
Orpheus seeking Eurydice—these are things that bring this 
question home as almost no other ever is brought home to us. 

It touches our benevolence, also, as applied to the vast 
mass of mankind, who certainly do not live according to the 
very lowest standard set up by the laxest moralist. If to be 
born again, if to begin to love, if to hate selfishness, if to 
begin a separation from our animal nature, are the condi- 
tions of joy in the future life, then how few of all the 
existing people on the globe have met those conditions! 
And yet, I will defy any man to look with a sympathetic 
heart out upon the masses that are moving more than all the 





456 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


leaves of the forests of the continent, and let the conviction 
pass his mind as even the shadow of a shade, without being 
utterly overwhelmed. A man can not have the susceptibility 
which is cultivated by the gospel of Christ, and then look 
boldly in the face the terrific application of this simple truth 


= 


to the outlying masses of mankind, and not shiver and 


tremble with sensibility. 

2. We are not surprised, therefore, to find that the edu- 
cated Christian mind of all lands, for the last hundred years, 
has been changing, and that milder expressions and a very 
different spirit have prevailed. It is certainly true that 
theories have been changing from gross material repre- 
sentations more and more in the direction of moral repre- 
sentations. It 1s very true that this subject is not preached 
as it used to be—not as it was in my childhood. It has not 
been preached as often, nor with the same fiery and familiar 
boldness that it used to be. Multitudes of men who give 
every evidence of being spiritual, regenerate, and devout, 
and laborious and self-denying, find themselves straitened in 
their minds in respect to this question, and are turning anx- 
iously every whither to see whence relief may come to them. 
There has been a profound change in the sentiment of 
Christendom in regard to those gross representations of 
future punishment, which were handed down to us from the 
past. 

The reasons are not far to find. The mediaeval literal- 
ization of the Bible figures, and the carrying of them for- 
ward with collateral and original illustrations of the same 
kind, had nearly reduced the truth of the future not only to 
a sensuous, but to a brutal and infernal condition. 

Again, the impossibility of reconciling, under a just 
government, a terrific penalty with a universal neglect of 








FUTURE PUNISHMENT 457 


mankind, has been, in the way in which many persons are 
constituted, the origin of their doubts. 

I am not now stating my own opinions. I am simply 
giving the different views which men hold at present, or 
have held, on this subject. 

To believe the stream of human existence to be fed and 
renewed in every generation, which is pouring over the 
precipice at the rate of thirty millions a year, into such 
torments as the old method of representation presented to 
us, and at the same time to teach that God is a loving 
Father—these two things have seemed so difficult to multi- 
tudes of persons, that they have fled from the attempt to 
reconcile them, and have abandoned all belief in them. 

Moreover, Christianity has educated a moral disposi- 
tion before which the various theories of theology that have 
sprung into existence within the last two thousand years are 
now on trial again. And the theologies which could stand 
the moral tests of the ages in which they were bred, cannot 
many of them stand the test of the higher developments 
which have taken place in our age. 

For example, vindictive justice was once thought to be 
perfectly right; but it cannot be defended in the great court 
of love. Penal suffering, disciplinary and educatory, can; 
but not vindictive justice. The Fatherhood of God is 
taking the place of Oriental monarchy. Once it was held 
that God might do just what He pleased, because He 
pleased. Now we are taught that God may do what He 
pleases, because love always pleases to do the best of things. 
God’s moral government is less and less likened to despotic 
government, and more and more to household government; 
and it will continue to grow in that direction, with the 
growth of civilization, based on Christian instruction. The 
question that arises is not, ““What may a supreme monarch 





458 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


do with his subjects?” but, ‘“What must a Father do with 
His erring children?” And this gives pause to many a man. 

The eternity of punishment, when anything like a con- 
ception of its significance and meaning seizes the minds of 
men, seems to paralyze many persons with grief. ‘The eter- 
nity of future punishment is the point where almost all 
agonizing doubts and struggles of Christian theologians 
have arisen. And of what are called the insoluble mys- 
teries of divine government, it seems to me that if the doc- 
trine of eternity of punishment were removed, nine out of 
ten would disappear of themselves. For I believe they 
result simply from that one term, suffering eternity. 

All these reasons, and some others which I cannot pause 
to enumerate, have conspired to work the change which I 
say has taken place, and is taking place, on this subject. 

3. We must not think that efforts to escape these views 
of the eternal punishment of the wicked are wanton, or that 
they indicate a low moral tendency. On the contrary, they 
are, in many instances, the result of the very highest moral 
susceptibility. Nor must we suppose that they spring up 
only in ignorant minds. ‘They arise in the most cultivated 
minds that there are in the church today. Nor are we to be- 
lieve that they are plead for the sake of getting larger 
license among self-indulgent and wicked men; for they are 
plead by men who are models of Christian self-denial and 
heroism. 

It is therefore a matter that demands still further look- 
ing into. To what grounds have these pressures brought 
men, and what are the theories that prevail on this subject 
today? , 

First is the Sadducean. It is disbelief in any immor- 
tality. According to that doctrine, there is no resurrection. 





FUTURE PUNISHMENT 459 


This disposes of the question, of course, by one single 
stroke; and I need not pause to speak of that. 

Next, there are those who rid themselves of the unques- 
tionable Scripture truth of the punishment of the wicked, by 
denying the inspiration of the Bible, and by denying the 
authority of its teaching on this point. It is somewhat re- 
markable that what are called the most liberal interpreters 
of the text, generally concede that a fair construction of the 
Gospels must result in the teaching of the future punishment 
of the wicked. 

Theodore Parker himself declared, I think—I may be 
mistaken; but if I recollect right he declared—that the 
first three gospels left no doubt in his mind that Christ did 
preach the doctrine of future and eternal punishment; but 
he considered Christ to be a fallible man, mistaken, having 
the prejudices of his age, and that his teaching on this point 
was not to be accepted or believed. He rid himself of this 
doctrine, as thousands do, by denying the inspiration and 
authority of the Scriptures. And it is the progress in this 
direction which is so much feared by good men. When a 
man has given up this one fact of inspiration, he has given 
up the whole foundation of revealed religion, and has gone 
upon the ground of mere natural religion. But, natural 
religion is an indefinite term. If it includes the moral truths 
which have been unfolded through the experience of man- 
kind, then it differs but little from revealed religion. If it 
looks only to physical nature, then it becomes too meagre 
for life, and dies of inanition or runs headlong into panthe- 
ism or atheism. 

A third class have taken the ground of what I may call 
—and I say it not reproachfully, but simply as a name-—— 
old-fashioned Universalism. ‘This teaches that men suffer 
in this life for their sins, and are rewarded for their virtues, 


eS SESE TSC ET SSC A ET SE SE SRST eye re 
460 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





and that the power of God at death sets men free from 
whatever remains of sin and impurity there may be, and 
inspires them with a sovereign spiritual power to go for- 
ward hereafter in the true life. This I understand to be the 
philosophical statement of the old ground of universalism. 
But these views are not at present in the ascendant, even in 
what we call Universalist Churches. The dominant tendency 
now is to admit future punishment as a truth taught, and 
a tenet to be accepted, but to teach that it is remedial and 
educatory, and that it will finally bring men to holiness 
through suffering. This is called sometimes the Restora- 
tionist view. 

Not a little progress has been made, however, in a still 
different direction from this—in a very widely different 
view. There are those who seek to escape from the doc- 
trine of future punishment by teaching that immortality is 
not natural; that it does not belong to all; that it was not 
born with men; that it is a special gift to those only who 
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; and that all others perish. 
And by perish they mean, literally, are annihilated. Some 
say that they are peremptorily annihilated at death; and 
other some, that they are consumed after a longer or shorter 
period of penal suffering. But both agree that annihilation 
is the portion of wicked men, and that immortality belongs 
only, and as a special gift, to those who believe in the Lord 
Jesus Christ. And so this class of men escape from be- 
lieving the dreadful doctrine of future punishment. 

There are those who teach that there is a series of 
spheres, or planes, and that men go forth from this life to 
that sphere or plane for which their particular development 
here fits them, and that they progress, in ascending order, 
under the nutriment of spiritual culture, until all, at last, 
will reach their ultimate perfection. This may be called a 





FUTURE PUNISHMENT 461 


cross between Swedenborgianism and modern “‘spiritual- 
ism.” 

Contrast these various theories, however, with the 
sublime simplicity of Christ’s teaching, and you will be 
struck with the difference between inspired teaching and 
human philosophizing—for I now state afirmatively what 
I understand to be the Scripture doctrine and representa- 
tion. The whole doctrine substantially rests upon Christ’s 
sole teaching. If we had only the Old Testament we could 
but guess that there was an existence after death, of any 
kind. ‘The full disclosure belongs to the New Testament; 
and in the New Testament, while there are, especially now 
in the light of the Gospels, passages in which the Apostles 
teach the truth of dreadful coming punishment, yet the 
foundation, the main ground and confidence and support of 
this truth is that our Master taught it. The loving, the 
gentle, the sympathetic, the sacrificial Saviour, who loved 
sinning men so that he came to die for them—he, calmly, 
deliberately, over and over again, did teach his disciples 
in such a way that they at that time, and since then the 
great body of the church, have believed that he meant us to 
understand that there is a future state of punishment, and 
that it is so great and dreadful a thing that all men should 
with terrible earnestness flee from it. 

He announced the fact. He did not reason upon it, nor 
point out its place in a system of moral truth, nor give it 
philosophical definition, nor consider objections to it, nor 
attempt to reconcile it with any theory of divine love or 
divine power. He raised his hand to the sky to draw aside 
the curtain, and there, right before his hearers, rose the 
dark grandeur of future Retribution. He bore witness to 
it as a fact. He did not discourse upon it as a philosophy. 
From the beginning of his ministry to the end, he went about 





——__———-. 


462 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


saying, ‘Repent! repent!’ And the universal sinfulness 
of man, while it never had so much sympathy, at the same 
time never had such fidelity of rebuke as in the ministry of 
the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not teach that the danger 
of men’s sinfulness is in this life; but, while doubtless recog- 
nizing all the incidental penalties that belong to evil-doing 
under material law, he all the time kept open before the 
eye the great horizon of the future. There is not one thing 
more characteristic of Christ’s teaching than that constant 
largeness of sphere in his thought—that looking to the 
great Beyond. It was the cope of the eternal world under 
which he seemed to be standing. And one reason of the 
dignity and authority and power with which he taught, and 
the grasp that he laid on men’s consciousness, as well as on 
their reason and their sensibilities, was that he spoke as One 
that came down from heaven; and his teachings on the sub- 
ject of penalty, therefore, were not teachings of the facts 
of natural law in this world, but were teachings in respect to 
the everlasting constitution of God, from eternity to eter- 
nity. He taught that it was a danger that men had in the 
future so great as to demand from every man the putting 
forth of his whole strength. 

He did not teach that symbols are literal and not figures, 
that hell is a literal kingdom, nor that there is a literal fire 
there, nor that they who are gathered there are literally 
tormented as men in dungeons and inquisitorial monarchical 
prisons were; but this he certainly did mean, and this men 
understood that he meant—that their sins will bring down 
upon them penalties here, and penalties hereafter, and that 
the danger is neither light nor transient. It is vast, it is 
voluminous; and he measured it by the effort that is required 
to overcome it. And that was indicated by his words, 
‘Strive (that is, agonize) to enter in at the straight gate. 





FUTURE PUNISHMENT 463 


Many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” It 
was declared that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, 
and the violent storm it—that is the figure. Men are in such 
peril of losing heaven, and of talling into wreck and ruin, 
that they must put forth their utmost exertion. That which 
a beleaguering army does, do ye and get the gate open; 
and then charge through and take possession of the fort. 
“The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent 
take it by force.” Itisareal danger. It isan awful danger. 
It is calculated to stir up fear, quicken imagination, acum- 
inate susceptibility, and to put men everywhere on the alert. 
This feeling ran all through Christ’s ministry. 

The danger also is so great that it was the occasion of 
his coming from heaven. Not less than equal with the 
Father, he laid aside the glory which he had, that he might 
rescue the world from death. His advent, his life, his 
teachings, his sacrifice and his death, he connected, all of 
them, with the peril that betided men; and the whole ex- 
ample of Christ was a silent testimony to the reality of that 
fear which brooded like dark thunderclouds over the whole 
wide horizon of the future. 

This was the undertone which ran through the whole 
of Christ’s teaching, both public and private. He inculcated 
morality and manhood; but there was something beyond 
this. There was an invisible world. ‘There were inexpres- 
sible perils. He, and after him his apostles, labored as 
they that would snatch men as brands from the burning. 

Now, I have felt every difficulty that any man has ever 
felt. In my thought I walk around about the terrific fact 
of the future. I, too, take into account the Fatherhood of 
God, and I look upon the unpitied nations of the globe; 
and with inexpressible longing and anguish, for which there 
is no word, I have sought relief. But there is the plain, 


464 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


simple testimony of Jesus Christ. I cannot get around that, 
nor get over it. There it is. I have nothing to say. I can- 
not fathom the matter. A child can ask me questions that I 
cannot answer. I find my soul aching. As it were drops of 
blood flow for tears. But, after all, I do believe in the Lord 
Jesus Christ. And I do not believe he would deceive me nor 
deceive you. And if you ask me for the reason of the faith 
that is in me, I simply say this, “‘Jesus says so’ —that is all. 
And I cannot give up his testimony. I preach the love of 
God, and I do not know what the scope of that love is. I 
do not know where it would logically lead. But I am sure 
that I am right in preaching that all punitive elements are 
under the control of love. I am perfectly sure that love 
will bring everything right in the end. I therefore preach 
without qualification, and almost without limitation on that 
side. But I am not to be understood, on that account, as 
not believing what Christ himself deliberately says in respect 
to the peril of sin, or in regard to punishment in the life 
which is to come. When I doubt the doctrine, therefore, it 
will be because I doubt the divinity of Christ. As long as I 
hold to the divinity of Christ, I cannot but hold the truth 
which he taught me to believe and to teach to others—that 
sin will be visited in the other life with terrible penalties, 
such as no man’s imagination can pierce. “It is a fearful 
thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”’ 

It goes to my heart to say these things. This is not the 
side that I seem to myself called to preach. Yet it is there, 
and if | am faithful to my whole duty I must preach it. As 
a surgeon does things that are most uncongenial to himself, 
so sometimes I do. And I do this with tears and with 
sorrow. It makes me sick. 

I remark, in review, then, that while we are to be utterly 
tolerant of those who have adopted other theories; while 





FUTURE PUNISHMENT 465 


we are neither to disown them as Christians, nor to dis- 
cipline them, for believing as they do—the day has gone by 
when a man is to be disciplined for his honest belief; if men 
cannot be cured in the open court of reasoning, they cannot 
be cured at all,( and we are not their masters to punish them 
—while we are to acknowledge every man’s right in this 
respect, and treat with kindness and fair-mindedness those 
that take grounds different from our own, yet let me say 
that any theory which takes off the pressure of responsibility 
that rests upon every man, that removes from any man’s 
conscience the burden that Christianity puts there, or lessens 
his feeling of the awfulness of sin, is unchristlike and dan- 
gerous. Christ placed the burden of fear on unrepentant 
men’s consciences; and anyone who takes off that burden of 
fear is not Christ-like. 

I say, once more, that any theory is permissible that still 
puts before a man all the motives and spurs of hope and of 
fear as they are combined in the truth of heaven and hell; 
and that any modifications of views hitherto held are per- 
missible if they do not break the force of responsibility. If 
you break that, you break the great element of moral 
government. ‘The sense of obligation to right, and the fear 
of doing wrong, should be maintained. Variations in 
philosophy may be permissible, but we must have the sub- 
stance of Christ’s teaching which is, that it is damnable to 
sin, that it is dangerous to die in sin, and that the future is 
full of peril to wicked men; while the life to come is full of 
blessedness to the righteous. 

This leads me, lastly, to speak of the uses which we are 
to make of this truth. It seems to me that instead of 
dividing ourselves up into pugnacious sects, instead of sep- 
arating ourselves into contending schools, on this matter, 
we should constantly have before our minds these most 





466 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


solemn testimonies of Christ in his teaching throughout the 
Gospel, and that they should keep alive and sharp in every 
one of us the reality of right and wrong. We ought not 
to allow the distinction between good and evil to be fused, 
run together, or to be slurred over. All the world is filled 
with illusions; and there is nothing that men are in more 
danger of losing than clear, sharp notions of honor, and 
truth, and rectitude, and responsibility. And this teaching 
of Christ brings the whole pressure of the eternal world to 
bear on the conscience in such a way as to keep it alert, 
sensitive, and true. It should keep alive in us a sense of our 
own eternal being. We never live only for the day; and yet 
we do live by the day. But, in the sense of formative power, 
the feelings that throb and swell in you today are master- 
masons, and with their little trowels they are building, 
building, building, in your thoughts and impulses; and they 
never leave you as they found you. You are changing from 
hour to hour; and that which is building is building for 
eternity. For our life does not consist in the days that we 
are spending on earth. Our life runs forward endlessly. 
And though we do not see what is being done within, the 
work goes on without cessation. 

The man who sits at the end of the magnetic line works 
at his little telegraphic machine, but sees no writing. ‘The 
message is rendered a hundred miles away. We are living 
here, and all our acts are performed here; but the record 
and the portraiture, the character and the destiny report 
themselves far beyond. 

This doctrine of the Future makes life most solemn, 
and brings motives for fidelity and for activity which we 
cannot gather within the horizon of time. It ought to 
inspire earnestness and watchfulness and great endurance 





FUTURE PUNISHMENT 467 


and great industry, in those who are seeking to save them- 
selves. 

We are many of us as men who have been cast away 
upon the sea, and are upon rafts, trying to reach the shore. 
We are as men that are sick, and are, by watchfulness, and 
by care, and by skill, striving to regain their health. We 
should live, not as men who are well, but as men that need 
a physician. 

We ought especially to be incited to fidelity to our 
children. By as much as you fear and dread this great 
truth of the punishment of sin hereafter, by so much you 
must be faithful to your children from the cradle upward, 
and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord. It is not safe for them to sin. It is not safe for 
them to be selfish. It is not safe for them to be proud. It 
is not safe for them to be sensuously prosperous, sacrificing 
every virtue that they may be prosperous in this world. 
You are bringing them up for the kingdom of God. Woe 
be to that mother and to that father who stand in the judg- 
ment day at last, and hear their child say, “But for you I 
had not perished!” 

No man can enter into the kingdom of God without 
strife. No virtue can be wrought out without strife. Our 
virtues are like crystals hidden in rocks. No man shall find 
them by any soft ways, but by the hammer and by fire. If 
there is anything that is to endure the fear of death, and the 
strifes of the eternal world, it is that to which we come by 
suffering. And we are to account nothing too heavy, noth- 
ing too sharp, nothing too long, in this life that shall bring 
us, at last, crowned and robed and sceptred, into the pres- 
ence of our own God to be participators of his immortality. 

Men and brethren, we are standing on the verge of the 
unseen world. All the thunderous din of this life ought 


468 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


not to fill our ears so but that we can hear the Spirit and 
the Bride that say to every man, through this golden air 
today, ““Come! come!”’ And that lonely and solemn sound, 
like that of the surf beating on the shore from the broad 
Atlantic, that all day and all night sounds on, and is never 
still—that sound comes from the other world, and says to | 
us, ‘“Beware, beware of that punishment of sin which over- 
hangs the other and the under life forever and forever!” 

May God bring us through brightness to gladness, and 
through gladness to joy, and through joy to immortality of 
blessedness. Amen. 


Selfishness, as Shown in Balaam’s 
Character 





FREDERICK W. ROBERTSON 


REDERICK W. ROBERTSON, known as ‘“‘Robert- 

son of Brighton,” was born in London in 1816, and 
died at Brighton in 1853. His father was an officer in the 
British Army, and the son at first was ambitious for a 
military career. But after preliminary studies for the 
army, he was ordained at Winchester, in 1840. In 1847, 
after passing through a period of doubt and perplexity, 
Robertson entered upon his famous ministry at Brighton. 

Robertson is often spoken of as “the preachers’ 
preacher,” and his sermons are probably more widely read 
by thoughtful ministers than those of any other preacher. 
The printed sermons are often little more than outlines, 
yet sufficient to show the searching mind and fine spirit of 
the preacher. Many of his most striking sermons are on 
‘the characters of the Bible, and most notable of these 
are the two sermons on the character of Balaam. Balaam 
is a subject which has attracted preachers of all genera- 
tions. For all students of the Scriptures and of human 
nature there is a certain fascination in this strange prophet, 
now rising to the sublimest heights in his magnificent pre- 
dictions of the future of Israel, and praying that he may 
die the death of the righteous, but finally perishing in a 
despicable conspiracy against the life and honor of Israel. 
Always there will be a degree of mystery about Balaam; 
yet he deserves the terrible denunciations of Peter, Jude 
and John. Robertson’s treatment of his character is per- 
haps as satisfactory as any in homiletical literature. It is 
dificult to choose between the two sermons by Robertson 
on Balaam, but after some hesitation I have selected the 
sermon, ‘Selfishness, as Shown in the Character of 


469 





470 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


Balaam.” ‘This sermon is memorable for the sentences, 
“He would not transgress a rule, but he would violate a 
principle. He would not say white was black, but he 
would sully it till it looked black.” 


Selfishness, as Shown in Balaam’s 
Character 


“Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the 
fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, 
and let my last end be like his!’? (Num. 23:10). 


FE, acquainted ourselves with the earlier part of 

Balaam’s history last Sunday. We saw how great 

gifts in him were perverted by ambition and avarice 
—ambition making them subservient to the admiration of 
himself; avarice transforming them into mere instruments 
for accumulating wealth. And we saw how his conscience 
was gradually perverted by insincerity, till his mind became 
the place of hideous contradictions, and even God Himself 
had become to him a lie; with his heart disordered, until 
the bitterness of all going wrong within vented itself on 
innocent circumstances, and he found himself so entangled 
in a false course that to go back was impossible. 

Now we come to the second stage. He has been with 
Balak; he has built his altars, offered his sacrifices and tried 
his enchantments, to ascertain whether Jehovah will permit 
him to curse Israel. And the Voice in his heart, through 
all, says “Israel is blest.’ He looks down from the hill- 
top, and sees the fair camp of Israel afar off, in beautiful 
array, their white tents gleaming “‘as the trees of lign aloes 
which the Lord hath planted.” He feels the solitary 
grandeur of a nation unlike all other nations—people which 
“Shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the 
nations.” A nation too numberless to give Balak any hope 
of success in the coming war. ‘‘Who can count the dust of 
Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel?” A 


471 





472 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WoRLD 


nation too strong in righteousness for idolaters and en- 


chanters to cope with. ‘Surely there is no enchantment - 


against Jacob, neither is there any divination against 
Israel?’ ‘Then follows a personal ejaculation:—"Let me 
die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like 
his !”’ 

Now, to prevent the possibility of misconception, or any 
supposition that Balaam was expressing words whose full 


significance he did not understand—that when he was © 


speaking of righteousness, he had only a heathen notion of 
it—we refer to the sixth chapter of Micah, from the fifth 
verse. We will next refer to Numbers 31:8, and Joshua 
13:22, from whence it appears that he who desired to die 
the death of the righteous, died the death of the ungodly, 
and fell, not on the side of the Lord, but fighting against 
the Lord’s cause. The first thing we find in this history of 
Balaam is an attempt to change the will of God. 

Let us clearly understand what was the meaning of all 
those reiterated sacrifices. 

1. Balaam wanted to please himself without displeasing 
God. ‘The problem was how to go to Balak, and yet not 
offend God. He would have given worlds to get rid of his 
duties, and he sacrificed, not to learn what his duty was, 
but to get his duty altered. Now see the feeling that lay at 
the root of all this—that God is mutable. Yet of all men 
one would have thought that Balaam knew better, for had 
he not said, ‘God is not a man, that He should lie; neither 
the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and 
shall He not do it?” But, when we look upon it, we see 
Balaam had scarcely any feeling higher than this—God is 
more inflexible than man. Probably had he expressed the 
exact shade of feeling, he would have said, more obstinate. 
He thought that God had set His heart upon Israel, and 





SELFISHNESS, AS SHOWN IN BALAAM 473 


that it was hard, yet not impossible, to alter this partiality. 
Hence he tries sacrifices to bribe, and prayers to coax, God. 

How deeply rooted this feeling is in human nature— 
this belief in God’s mutability—you may see from the 
Romish doctrine of indulgences and atonements. The 
Romish Church permits crime for certain considerations. 
For certain considerations it teaches that God will forgive 
crimes. Atonements after, and indulgences before sin, are 
the same. But this Romish doctrine never could have suc- 
ceeded, if the belief in God’s mutability and the desire that 
He should be mutable, were not in man already. 

What Balaam was doing in these parables, and enchant- 
ments, and sacrifices, was simply purchasing an indulgence 
to sin; in other words, it was an attempt to make the Eternal 
Mind change. What was wanting for Balaam to feel was 
this—God cannot change. What he did feel was this—God 
will not change. here are many writers who teach that 
this and that is right because God has willed it. All discus- 
sion is cut short by the reply, God has determined it, there- 
fore it is right. Now there is exceeding danger in this mode 
of thought, for a thing is not right because God has willed 
it, but God wills it because it is right. It is in this tone the 
Bible always speaks. Never, except in one obscure passage, 
does the Bible seem to refer right and wrong to the sover- 
eignty of God, and declare it a matter of will: never does 
it imply that if He so chose, He could reverse evil and good. 
It says, ‘Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal ?”’ 
“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” was Abra- 
ham’s exclamation in a mind of hideous doubt whether the 
Creator might not be on the eve of doing injustice. So the 
Bible justifies the ways of God to man. But it could not do 
so unless it admitted Eternal Laws, with which no will can 
interfere. Nay more, see what ensues from this mode of 


474 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


thought. If Right is right because God wills it, then if God 
chose, He could make injustice, and cruelty, and lying to be 
right. ‘This is exactly what Balaam thought. If God could 
but be prevailed on to hate Israel, then for him to curse 
them would be right. And again: if power and sovereignty 
makes right, then supposing that the Ruler were a demon, 
devilish hatred would be as right as now it is wrong. ‘There 
is great danger in some of our present modes of thinking. 
It is a common thought that Might makes Right, but for us 
there is no rest, no rock, no sure footing, so long as we feel 
right and wrong are mere matters of will and decree. There 
is no safety then, from these hankering feelings and wishes 
to alter God’s decree. You are unsafe until you feel, 
‘“Heaven and earth may pass away, but God’s word cannot 
pass away.” 

2. We notice, secondly, an attempt to blind himself. 
One of the strangest leaves in the book of the human heart 
is here turned. We observe here perfect veracity with utter 
want of truth. Balaam was veracious. He will not deceive 
Balak. Nothing was easier than to get the reward by mut- 
tering a spell, knowing all the while that it would not work. 
Many a European has sold incantations to rich savages 
for jewels and curiosities, thus enriching himself by deceit. 
Now Balaam was not supernaturally withheld. ‘That is a 
baseless assumption. Nothing withheld him but his con- 
science. No bribe on earth could induce Balaam to say a 
falsehood—to pretend a curse which was powerless—to get 
gold, dearly as he loved it, by a pretence. “If Balak would 
give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond 
the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more,” was 
no mere fine saying, but the very truth. You might as soon 
have turned the sun from his course as induced Balaam to 
utter falsehood. 





SELFISHNESS, AS SHOWN IN BALAAM 475 


And yet, with all this, there was utter truthlessness of 
heart. Balaam will not utter what is not true; but he will 
blind himself so that he may not see the truth, and so speak 
a lie, believing it to be the truth. 

He will only speak the thing he feels; but he is not 
careful to feel all that is true. He goes to another place, 
where the whole truth may not force itself upon his mind— 
to a hill where he shall not see the whole of Israel: from 
hill to hill for the chance of getting to a place where the 
truth may disappear. But there stands the stubborn fact— 
Israel is blessed; and he will look at the fact in every way, 
to see if he cannot get it into a position where it shall be 
seen no longer. Ostrich like! 

Such a character is not so uncommon as, perhaps, we 
think. ‘There is many a lucrative business which involves 
misery and wrong to those who are employed in it. ‘The 
man would be too benevolent to put the gold in his purse 
if he knew of the misery. But he takes care not to know. 
There is many a dishonorable thing done at an election, and 
the principal takes care not to inquire. Many an oppres- 
sion is exercised on a tenantry, and the landlord receives 
his rent, and asks no questions. Or there is some situation 
which depends upon the holding of certain religious opin- 
ions, and the candidate has a suspicion that if he were to 
examine, he could not conscientiously profess these opinions, 
and perchance he takes care not to examine. 

3. Failing in all these evil designs against Israel, 
Balaam tries his last expedient to ruin them, and that par- 
tially succeeds. 

He recommends Balak to use the fascination of the 
daughters of Moab to entice the Israelites into idolatry. 
He has tried enchantments and sacrifices in vain to reverse 


God’s Will. He has tried in vain to think that Will is 





476 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


reversed. It will not do. He feels at last that God has 
not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverse- 
ness in Israel. Now therefore he tries to reverse the char- 
acter of these favorites, and so to reverse God’s Will. God 
will not curse the good; therefore Balaam tries to make 
them wicked; he tries to make the good curse themselves 
and so exasperate God. 

A more diabolical wickedness we can scarcely conceive. 
Yet Balaam was an honorable man and a veracious man; 
nay, a man of delicate conscientiousness and unconquerable 
scruples—a man of lofty religious professions, highly 
respectable and respected. ‘The Lord of heaven and earth 
has said there is such a thing as “straining out a gnat, and 
swallowing a camel.” 

There are men who would not play false, and yet would 
wrongly win. ‘There are men who would not lie, and yet 
who would bribe a poor man to support a cause which he 
believes in his soul to be false. There are men who would 
resent at the sword’s point the charge of dishonor, who 
would yet for selfish gratification entice the weak into sin, 
and damn body and soul in hell. ‘There are men who 
would be shocked at being called traitors, who in time of 
war will yet make a fortune by selling arms to their coun- 
try’s foes. ‘There are men respectable and respected, who 
give liberally and support religious societies, and go to 
church, and would not take God’s name in vain, who have 
made wealth, in some trade of opium or spirits, out of the 
wreck of innumerable human lives. Balaam is one of the 
accursed spirits now, but he did no more than these are 
doing. 

Now see what lay at the root of all this hollowness :— 
Selfishness. | 

From first to last one thing appears uppermost in this 





SELFISHNESS, AS SHOWN IN BALAAM 477 


history—Balaam’s self;—the honor of Balaam as a true 
prophet—therefore he will not lie; the wealth of Balaam— 
therefore the Israelites must be sacrificed. Nay more, even 
in his sublimest visions his egotism breaks out. In the sight 
of God’s Israel he cries, ‘‘Let me die the death of the 
righteous: in anticipation of the glories of the Eternal 
Advent, “J shall behold Him, but not nigh.” He sees the 
vision of a Kingdom, a Church, a chosen people, a triumph 
of righteousness. In such anticipations, the nobler prophets 
broke out into strains in which their own personality was 
forgotten. Moses, when he thought that God would 
destroy His people, prays in agony—‘‘Yet now, if Thou 
wilt, forgive their sin;—and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, 
out of Thy book.” Paul speaks in impassioned words—‘‘I 
have continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that 
myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kins- 
men according to the flesh, who are Israelites.’ But 
Balaam’s chief feeling seems to be, “How will all this ad- 
vance me?” And the magnificence of the prophecy is thus 
marred by a chord of melancholy and diseased egotism. 
Not for one moment—even in those moments when un- 
inspired men gladly forget themselves; men who have de- 
voted themselves to a monarchy or dreamed of a republic 
in sublime self-abnegation—can Balaam forget himself in 


- God’s cause. 


Observe then: desire for personal salvation is not re- 
ligion. It may go with it, but it is not religion. Anxiety 
for the state of one’s own soul is not the healthiest or best 
symptom. Of course everyone wishes, ‘Let me die the 
death of the righteous.” But it is one thing to wish to be 
saved, another to wish God’s right to triumph;—one thing 
to wish to die safe, another to wish to live holily. Nay, 
not only is this desire for personal salvation not religion, 





478 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


but if soured, it passes into hatred of the good. Balaam’s 
feeling became spite against the people who are to be blessed 
when he is not blessed. He indulges a wish that good may 
not prosper, because personal interests are mixed up with 
the failure of good. 

We see anxiety about human opinion is uppermost. 
Throughout we find in Balaam’s character semblances, not 
realities. He would not transgress a rule, but he would 
violate a principle. He would not say white was black, but 
he would sully it till it looked black. 

Now consider the whole. 

A bad man prophesies under the fear of God, restrained 
by conscience, full of poetry and sublime feelings, with a full 
clear view of death as dwarfing life, and the blessedness of 
righteousness as compared with wealth. And yet we find 
him striving to disobey God, hollow and unsound at heart; 
using for the devil wisdom and gifts bestowed by God; 
sacrificing all with a gambler’s desperation, for name and 
wealth; tempting a nation to sin, and crime, and ruin; 
separated in selfish isolation from all mankind; superior to 
Balak, and yet feeling that Balak knew him to be a man that 
had his price; with the bitter anguish of being despised by 
the men who were inferior to himself; forced to conceive 
of a grandeur in which he had no share, and a righteousness 
in which he had no part. Can you not conceive the end of 
one with a mind so torn and distracted?—the death in 
battle; the insane frenzy with which he would rush into the 
field, and finding all go against him, and that lost for which 
he had bartered heaven, after having died a thousand worse 
than deaths, finds death at last upon the spears of the 
Israelites? 

In application, we remark first, the danger of great 





SELFISHNESS, AS SHOWN IN BALAAM 479 


powers. It is an awful thing, this conscious power to see 
more, to feel more, to know more than our fellows. 

2. But let us mark well the difference between feeling 
and doing. 

It is possible to have sublime feelings, great passions, 
even great sympathies with the race, and yet not to love 
man. ‘To feel mightily is one thing, to live truly and char- 
itably another. Sin may be felt at the core, and yet not be 
cast out. Brethren, beware. See how a man may be going 
on uttering fine words, orthodox truths, and yet be rotten 
at the heart. 


7 =} aA 
Aneta te bli ' 
ma at Ao Oe a 
DBAs bk! Pe, 


VE &, 


ae Ua 
Ee eae 


beet ef 


¥ 
fi 
aan 
i tpl 
4 


y y 

4 ; 4 ie h% ¥ nu, 
Weg) ae Ads 
ay nay 
at as hice eae 





The First Five Minutes 
After Death 





HENRY PARRY LIDDON 


ENRY PARRY LIDDON was born in Hampshire, 

England, in 1829, and died in London in 1890. 
In 1870, when prebendary of Salisbury Cathedral, he 
delivered his Bampton Lectures on the divinity of Christ. 
These lectures established his fame as a preacher and 
theologian. In 1870 he became canon of St. Paul’s 
Cathedral, where his preaching attracted such crowds that 
it became necessary to change the afternoon service from 
the choir to the nave. ‘There, under the great dome of 
St. Paul’s, Liddon poured forth his noble defense of the 
great doctrines of the Christian faith. In his preaching 
he dwelt not on the periphery of the Christian revelation, 
but upon what Chalmers called its “grand particularities.” 
Against the growing scepticism of the day, Liddon took an 
uncompromising stand for the integrity of the Scriptures 
and the truth of the doctrines of Christianity. When he 
preached on the Resurrection he made it clear that the 
Christian doctrine of the future was the doctrine of the 
resurrection of the body, and not a mere continuance of 
spirit existence after death. When he referred to the 
Second Advent of Christ, it was a real, personal Advent to 
which he testified, and not the mere triumph of the prin- 
ciples of righteousness. Concerning this doctrine he said, 
“Then let us turn the key in the west door of this cathe- 
dral, if Christ is not coming back in glory.” No one can 
read the sermons of Liddon without realizing that here 
was a preacher who sincerely received the great afirma- 
tions of the Christian revelation and believed in his heart 
of hearts that men are lost sinners, saved only through 
faith in the eternal Son of God. 


481 





482 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


He dwelt much on subjects dealing with man’s life be- 
yond the grave. His sermon “The First Five Minutes 
After Death,” although not as doctrinal as most of his 
sermons, is an intensely interesting and arresting treatment 
of that solemn theme. 


The First Five Minutes After Death 


“Then shall I know, even as also I am known” (1 Cor. 13:12). 


N Indian officer, who in his time had seen a great 
deal of service, and had taken part in more than 
one of those decisive struggles by which the British 

authority was finally established in the East Indies, had 
returned to end his days in this country, and was talking 
with his friends about the most striking experiences of his 
professional career. ‘They led him, by their sympathy and 
their questions, to travel in memory through a long series 
of years; and as he described skirmishes, battles, sieges, 
personal encounters, hair-breadth escapes, the outbreak of 
the mutiny and its suppression, reverses, victories—all the 
swift alternations of anxiety and hope which a man must 
know who is entrusted with command, and is before the 
enemy—their interest in his story, as was natural, became 
keener and more exacting. At last he paused with the 
observation, “I expect to see something much more remark- 
able than anything I have been describing.’’ As he was 
some seventy years of age, and was understood to have 
retired from active service, his listeners failed to catch his 
meaning. There was a pause; and then he said in an under- 
tone, ‘‘I mean in the first five minutes after death.”’ 

‘The first five minutes after death!’ Surely the ex- 
pression is worth remembering, if only as that of a man to 
whom the life to come was evidently a great and solemn 
reality. ‘The first five minutes.” If we may employ for 
the moment when speaking of eternity standards of meas- 
urement which belong to time, it is at least conceivable that, 
after the lapse of some thousands or tens of thousands of 


483 





484 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


years, we shall have lost all sense of a succession in events; 
that existence will have come to seem to be only a never- 
ceasing present; an unbegun and unending now. It is, I say, 
at least conceivable that this will be so; but can we suppose 
that at the moment of our entrance on that new and wonder- 
ful world we shall already think and feel as if we had 
always been there, or had been there, at least, for ages? 
There is no doubt, an impression sometimes to be met 
with that death is followed by a state of unconsciousness. 


‘Tf sleep and death be truly one, 
And every spirit’s folded bloom, 
Through all its intervital gloom, 
In some long trance should slumber on, 


‘Unconscious of the sliding hour, 
Bare of the body, might it last, 
And all the traces of the past 

Be all the colour of the flower.”’ 


But that is a supposition which is less due to the exigencies 
of reason than to the sensitiveness of imagination. The 
imagination recoils from the task of anticipating a moment 
so full of awe and wonder as must be that of the introduc- 
tion of a conscious spirit to the invisible world. And, 
accordingly, the reason essays to persuade itself, if it can, 
that life after death will not be conscious life, although it is 
dificult to recognize a single reason why, if life, properly 
speaking, survives at all, it should forfeit consciousness. 
Certainly the life of the souls under the heavenly altar, who 
intercede perpetually with God for the approach of the Last 
Judgment, is not an unconscious life. Certainly the para- 
dise which our Lord promised to the dying thief cannot be 
reasonably imagined to have been a moral and mental 








Tue First Five Minutes AFrer DEATH 485 


slumber, any more than can those unembodied ministers of 
God who do His pleasure, who are sent forth to minister 
to them that are the heirs of salvation, be supposed to 
reach a condition no higher than that which is produced by 
chloroform. No, this supposition of an unconscious state 
after death is a discovery, not of Revelation, not of reason, 
but of desire; of a strong desire on the one hand to keep a 
hold on immortality, and on the other to escape the risks 
which immortality may involve. It cannot well be doubted 
that consciousness,—if not retained to the last in the act of 
dying, if suspended by sleep, or by physical disease, or by 
derangement—must be recovered as soon as the act of 
death is completed, with the removal of the cause which 
suspended it. Should this be the case, the soul will enter 
upon another life with the habits of thought which belong 
to time still clinging to it; they will be unlearnt gradually, 
if at all, in the after-stages of existence. And, assuredly, 
the first sense of being in another world must be over- 
whelming. Imagination can, indeed, form no worthy esti- 
mate of it; but we may do well to try to think of it as best 
we can this afternoon, since it is at least one of the ap- 
proaches to the great and awful subject which should be 
before our thoughts at this time of the year, namely, the 
second coming of Jesus Christ to Judgment. And here the 
Apostle comes to our assistance with his anticipation of 
the future life, as a life of enormously enhanced knowledge: 
“Then shall I know, even as also I am known.” Let us 
try to keep it before our minds, reverently and earnestly, 
for a few minutes; and let us ask ourselves, accordingly, 
what will be the most startling additions to our existing 
knowledge at our first entrance on the world to come. 





486 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


re 

First, then, at our entrance on another state of being, 
we shall know what it is to exist under entirely new condi- 
tions. Here we are bound up—we hardly suspect, perhaps, 
how intimately—in thought and affection, with the persons 
and objects around us. ‘They influence us subtly and power- 
fully in a thousand ways; in some cases they altogether 
shape the course of life. In every life, it has been truly 
said, much more is taken for granted than is ever noticed. 
The mind is eagerly directed to the few persons and sub- 
jects which affection or interest force prominently upon its 
notice; it gazes inertly at all the rest. As we say, it does 
not take them in, until some incident arises which forces 
them one by one into view. A boy never knows what his 
home was worth until he has gone for the first time to 
school; and then he misses, and as he misses he eagerly 
recollects and realizes, all that he has left behind him. 

This may enable us, in a certain sense, to understand 
what is in store for all of us at our entrance, by dying, 
into the unseen world. I do not, of course, mean that this 
life is our home, and that the future at all necessarily corre- 
sponds to school as being an endless banishment. God for- 
bid! If we only will have it, the exact reverse of this shall 
be the case. But the parallel will so far hold good that at 
death we must experience a sense of strangeness to which 
nothing in this life has even approached. We shall exist, 
thinking and feeling, and exercising memory and will and 
understanding; but—without bodies. Think what that 
means. Weare at present at home in the body; we have not 
yet learnt, by losing it, what the body is to us. The various 
activities of the soul are sorted out and appropriated by the 
several senses of the body, so that the soul’s action from 
moment to moment is made easy, we may well conceive, by 





THE First FivE MINUTEs AFTER DEATH 487 


being thus distributed. What will it be to compress all that 
the senses now achieve separately into a single act; to see, 
but without these eyes; to hear, but without these ears; to 
experience something purely supersensuous that shall an- 
swer to the grosser senses of taste and smell; and to see, © 
hear, smell and taste by a single movement of the spirit, 
combining all these separate modes of apprehension into 
one? What will it be to find ourselves with the old self, 
divested of this body which has clothed it since its first 
moment of existence; able to achieve, it may be so much, it 
may be so little; living on, but under conditions so totally 
new? ‘This experience alone will add no little to our ex- 
isting knowledge; and the addition will have been made in 
the first five minutes after death. 


re 


And the entrance on the next world must bring with it 
a knowledge of God such as 1s impossible in this life. In 
this life many men talk of God, and some men think much 
and deeply about Him. But here men do not attain to that 
sort of direct knowledge of God which the Bible calls 
“sight.” We do not see a human soul. The soul makes 
itself felt in conduct, in conversation, in the lines of the 
countenance; although these often énough mislead us. The 
soul speaks through the eye, which misleads us less often. 
That is to say, we know that the soul is there, and we detect 
something of its character and power and drift. We do not 
see it. In the same way we feel God present in nature, 
whether in its awe or its beauty; and in human history, 
whether in its justice or its weird mysteriousness; and in 
the life of a good man, or the circumstances of a generous 
or noble act. Most of all we feel Him near when con- 
science, His inward messenger, speaks plainly and decisively 





488 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


to us. Conscience, that invisible prophet, surely appeals to 
and implies a law, and a law implies a legislator. But we do 
not see Him. Of the children of men in this mortal state, 
the rule holds good that no one hath seen God at any time. 

But after death there will be a change. It is said of our 
Lord’s glorified Manhood, united as it is for ever to the 
Person of the Eternal Son, that ‘“‘every eye shall see Him, 
and they also which pierced Him.’ Even the lost will 
then understand much more of what God is to the universe 
and to themselves, although they are for ever excluded from 
the direct vision of God. He will be there, before us. We 
shall see Him as He is. His vast illimitable life will present 
itself to the apprehension of our spirits as a clearly con- 
sistent whole; not as a complex problem to be painfully 
mastered by the effort of our understandings, but as a pres- 
ent, living, encompassing Being, who inflicts Himself on 
the very sight of His adoring creatures. 


BEY 


Once more; at our entrance on another world we shall 
know our old selves as never before. The past will lie 
spread out before us, and we shall take a comprehensive 
survey of it. Each man’s life will be displayed to him as a 
river, which he traces from its source in a distant mountain 
till it mingles with the distant ocean. ‘The course of that 
river lies, sometimes through dark forests which hide it 
from view, sometimes through sands or marshes in which it 
seems to lose itself. Here it forces a passage angrily be- 
tween precipitous rocks, there it glides gently through 
meadows which it makes green and fertile. At one while it 
might seem to be turning backwards out of pure caprice; 
at another to be parting, like a gay spendthrift, with half 
its volume of waters; while later on it receives contribu- 





THE First Five MINuTES AFTER DEATH 489 


tory streams that restore its strength; and so it passes on, 
till the ebb and flow of tides upon its bank tells that the 
end is near. What will not the retrospect be when, after 
death, we survey, for the first time, as with a bird’s-eye 
view, the whole long range—the strange vicissitudes, the 
loss and gain, as we deem it, the failures and the triumphs 
of our earthly existence; when we measure it, as never be- 
fore, in its completeness, now that is at last over! 

This, indeed, is the characteristic of the survey after 
death, that it will be complete. 


‘There no shade can last, 
In that deep dawn behind the tomb, 
But clear from marge to marge shall bloom 
The eternal landscape of the past.” 


That survey of life which is made by the dying is less than 
complete; it cannot include the closing scene of all. While 
there is life, there is room for recovery, and the hours 
which remain may be very different from those which have 
preceded. 

It may be thought that to review life will take as long 
a time as to live it; but this notion betrays a very imperfect 
idea of the resource and capacity of the human soul. Under 
the pressure of great feeling, the soul lives with a rapidity 
and intensity which disturb all its usual relations to time; 
witness the reports which those who have nearly lost their 
lives by drowning have made of their mental experiences. 
It once happened to me to assist at the recovery of a man 
who nearly forfeited life while bathing. He had sunk the 
last time, and there was difficulty in getting him to land, 
and when he was landed, still greater difficulty in restoring 
him. Happily there was skilled assistance at hand. And so 
presently my friend recovered, not without much distress, 





490 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


first one and then another of the sensations and faculties 
of his bodily life. In describing his experience of what must 
have been the whole conscious side of the act of dying by 
drowning, he said that the time had seemed to him of very 
great duration; he had lost his standard of the worth of 
time. He had lived his whole past life over again; he had 
not epitomized it; he had repeated it, as it seemed to him, 
in detail and with the greatest deliberation. He had dif_i- 
culty in understanding that he had only been in the water 
for a few minutes. During these intenser moments of 
existence the life of the soul has no sort of relation to what 
we call time. 

Yes! in entering another world we shall know what we 
have been in the past as never before; but we shall know 
also what we are. The soul, divested of the body, will see 
itself as never before; and it may be that it will see dis- 
figurements and ulcers which the body, like a beautiful robe, 
had hitherto shrouded from the sight, and which are re- 
vealed in this life only by the shock of a great sorrow or of 
a great fall. ‘There is a notion abroad—a notion which is 
welcomed because, whether true or not, it is very comfort- 
able—that the soul will be so changed by death as to lose 
the disfigurements which it may have contracted through 
life; that the death-agony is a furnace, by being plunged into 
which the soul will burn out its stains; or that death involves 
such a shock as to break the continuity of our moral condi- 
tion, though not of existence itself; and thus that, in chang- 
ing worlds, we shall change our characters, and that moral 
evil will be buried with the body in the grave, while the soul 
escapes, purified by separation from its grosser companion, 
to the regions of holiness and peace. 

Surely, brethren, this is an illusion which will not stand 
the test—-we need not for the moment say of Christian 





THE First Five MINUTES AFTER DEATH 491 


truth, but—of reasonable reflection. It is a contradiction 
to all that we know about the character and mind of man, 
in which nothing is more remarkable than the intimate and 
enduring connection which subsists between its successive 
states or stages of development. Every one of us here 
present is now exactly what his past life has made him. 
Our present thoughts, feelings, mental habits, good and 
bad, are the effects of what we have done or left undone, of 
cherished impressions, of passions indulged or repressed, of 
pursuits vigorously embraced or willingly abandoned. And 
as our past mental and spiritual history has made us what 
we are, so we are at this very moment making ourselves 
what we shall be. I do not forget that intervention of a 
higher force which we call ‘‘grace,”’ and by which the direc- 
tion of a life may be suddenly changed, as in St. Paul’s case 
at his conversion; although these great changes are often 
prepared for by a long preceding process, and are not as 
sudden as they seem. But we are speaking of the rule, and 
not of the exception. The rule is that men are in each stage 
of their existence what with or without God’s supernatural 
grace they have made themselves in the preceding stages; 
and there is no reasonable ground for thinking that at death 
the influences of a whole lifetime will cease to operate upon 
character, and that, whatever those influences may have 
been, the soul will be purified by the shock of death. Why, 
I ask, should death have any such result? What is there in 
death to bring it about? Death is the dissolution of the bod- 
ily frame; of the limbs and organs through which the soul 
now acts. ‘These organs are, no doubt, very closely con- 
nected with the soul, which strikes its roots into them and 
acts through them. But, although closely connected with the 
soul, they are distinct from it: thought, conscience, affection, 
will, are quite independent of the organs which are dis- 





492 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





solved by death. And it is impossible to see why the soul 
should put on a new character simply because it lays aside 
for awhile the instrument which it has employed during a 
term of years, any more than why a painter’s hand should 
forget its cunning because he has sold his easel, or why a 
murderer should cease to be a murderer at heart because he 
has lost his dagger and cannot afford to replace it. True, 
at death, the ear, the eye, the hands, perish. But when 
they are destroyed in this life by an accident, does character 
change with them? ‘The indulgence of the purely animal 
appetite may depend on the healthy condition of the organ; 
but the mental condition which permits, if it does not dic- 
tate, the indulgence remains unaffected. Principles of right 
action or their opposites outlive the faculties, as they out- 
live the opportunities for asserting themselves in act. The 
habit of thieving is not renounced because the right hand has 
been cut off; nor are sensual dispositions because the body 
is prostrate through illness; nor is evil curiosity because the 
eye is dim and the ear deaf. And when all the instruments 
through which in this life the soul has expressed itself, and 
which collectively make up the body, are laid aside by the 
emphatic act of death, the soul itself, and all its character- 
istic thought and affections, will remain unaffected, since its 
life is independent of its bodily envelope as is the body’s 
life of the clothes which we wear. 

One Being there is who knows us now, who knows us 
perfectly, who has always known us. When we die we shall 
for the first time know ourselves, even as also we are known. 
We shall not have to await the Judge’s sentence; we shall 
read it at a glance, whatever it be, in this new apprehension 
of what we are. 

It may help us, then, this Advent to think from time to 
time of what will be our condition in the first five minutes 








Tue First Five MInuTEs AFTER DEATH 493 


after death. Like death itself, the solemnities which follow 
it must come to all of us. We know not when, or where, 
or how we shall enter in; this only we know—that come it 
must. ‘Those first five minutes, that first awakening to a 
new existence, with its infinite possibilities, will only be toler- 
able if we have indeed, with the hands of faith and love, 
laid hold on the Hope set before us, in the Person of Jesus 
Christ our Lord and Saviour; who for us men and for our 
salvation took flesh, and was crucified, and rose from death, 
and ascended into heaven, and has pleaded incessantly at 
the right hand of the Father for us, the weak and erring 
children of the Fall. Without Him, a knowledge of that 
new world, of its infinite and awful Master, still more of 
ourselves as we really are, will indeed be terrifying. With 
Him, we may trust that such knowledge will be more than 
bearable; we may think calmly even of that tremendous ex- 
perience, if He, the Eternal God, is indeed our Refuge, and 
underneath are the Everlasting Arms. 





Spared! 





CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON 


HARLES HADDON SPURGEON was born at 

Kelvedon, England, June 19, 1834, and died at 
Mentone, Switzerland, January 31, 1892. He became 
celebrated as a “boy preacher,” and at twenty-two years 
of age was the most popular preacher in the world. The 
Metropolitan Tabernacle, seating six thousand, was built 
for him, and there he preached for almost two genera- 
tions. His sermons were taken down in shorthand and 
scattered by thousands through the English-speaking world. 
If we take into consideration the number of weekly read- 
ers, as well as the congregations which heard him at the 
Tabernacle, it is safe to say that Spurgeon preached to 
more people than any preacher in the history of the Chris- 
tian Church. Nearly all those who have recorded their 
impression of Spurgeon’s preaching bear witness to the 


CBo ptist ) 


singular beauty and charm of his voice. His preaching was _ 


direct and personal. He once said: “I hope I may never 
preach before a congregation—lI desire always to preach 
to you.’ Charles Francis Adams, American minister to 
England during the Civil War, gives this impression of 
Spurgeon: ““There was no characteristic thought nor novel 
reasoning. His power consisted in sympathy with the cur- 
rent of human feeling in all ages on that solemn topic of 
moral responsibility to a higher power, both here and here- 
after.’’ No preacher left so many printed sermons behind 
him as did Spurgeon. From these thousands of sermons it 
is dificult to make a choice, for Spurgeon is less interesting 
to read than almost any of the great preachers. But nearly 
all his sermons show his manner, and his deep desire to 
save the souls of those to whom he was preaching. 

I have chosen the sermon on the striking text, “I was 
left.”’ In this sermon the reader will find that, as Adams 
noted, Spurgeon kept ever in the foreground the “solemn 
topic of moral responsibility to a higher power, both here 
and hereafter.” 


495 





Spared! 


“T was left” (Ezek. 9:8). 


HE vision of Ezekiel, which is recorded in the 
previous chapter, brought to light the abominations 
of the house of Judah. ‘The vision which follows in 
this chapter shows the terrible retribution that the Lord 
God brought upon the guilty nation, beginning at Jerusalem. 
He beheld the slaughtermen come forth with their 
weapons, he marked them begin the destroying work at 
the gate of the Temple, he saw them proceed through the 
main streets, and not omit a single lane; they slew utterly 
all those who were not marked with the mark of the writer’s 
inkhorn on their brow. He stood alone—that Prophet of 
the Lord—himself spared in the midst of universal carnage; 
and as the carcasses fell at his feet, and the bodies stained 
with gore lay all around him, he said, “I was left.’ He 
stood alive amongst the dead, because he was found faith- 
ful among the faithless; he survived in the midst of univer- 
sal destruction, because he had served his God in the midst - 
of universal depravity. 
We shall now take the sentence apart altogether from. 
Fzekiel’s vision, and appropriate it to ourselves, and I 
think when we read it over and repeat it, “I was left,”’ it 
very naturally invites us to take a retrospect of the past, 
very readily also it suggests a prospect of the future, and, [I 
think, it permits also a terrible contrast in reserve for the 
impenitent. 
1. First of all, then, my brethren, we have here a 
pathetic reflection, which seems to invite us to take a solemn 
retrospect—‘‘I was left.’ You remember, many of you, 


497 





498 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


times of sickness, when cholera was in your streets. You 
may forget that season of pestilence, but I never can; when 
the duties of my pastorate called me continually to walk 
among your terror-stricken households, and to see the dying 
and the dead. Impressed upon my young heart must ever 
remain some of those sad scenes I witnessed when I first 
came to this metropolis, and was rather employed at that 
time to bury the dead than to bless the living. Some of you 
have passed through not only one season of cholera but 
many, and you have been present, too, perhaps, in climates 
where fever has prostrated its hundreds, and where the 
plague and other dire diseases have emptied out their 
quivers, and every arrow has found its mark in the heart 
of some one of your companions. , Yet you have been left? 
You walked among the graves, but you did not stumble into 
them. Fierce and fatal maladies lurked in your path, but 
they were not allowed to devour you. ‘The bullets of death 
whistled by your ears, and yet you stood alive, for his bullet 
_had no billet for your heart. You can look back, some of 
you, through fifty, sixty, seventy years. Your bald and 
gray heads tell the story that you are no more raw recruits 
in the warfare of life. You have become veterans, if not 
invalids, in the army. You are ready to retire, to put off 
your armour, and give place to others. Look back, brethren, 
I say, you have come into the sere and yellow leaf; 
remember the many seasons in which you have seen death 
hailing multitudes about you; and think—‘I was left.” 
And we, too, who are younger, in whose veins our blood 
still leaps in vigor, can remember times of peril, when 
thousands fell about us, yet we can say in God’s house with 
great emphasis, “‘I was left’’—preserved, great God, when 
many others perished; sustained, standing on the rock of 
life when the waves of death dashed about me, the spray fell 


SPARED! 499 


heavy upon me, and my body was saturated with disease and 
pain, yet am [ still alive—permitted still to mingle with the 
busy tribes of men. 

Now, then, what does such a retrospect as this suggest ? > 
Ought we not each one of us to ask the question, What was 
I spared for?.Why was I left?. Many of you were at - 
that time, and some of you even now are dead in trespasses 
and sins. You were not spared because of your faithfulness, ~ 
for you brought forth nothing but the grapes of Gomorrah. 
Certainly God did not stay his sword because of anything 


good in you. A multitude of clamorous evils in your dis- ~ 


position if not in your conduct might well have demanded 
your summary execution. You were spared. Let me ask 
you why? Was-it-that mercy might yet visit _you—that 
grace might-yet renew your soul? MWHlave you found it so? 
Has sovereign grace overcome you, broken down your 
prejudices, thawed your icy heart, broken your stony will 
in pieces? Say, sinner, in looking back upon the times when 
you have been left, were you spared in order that you 
might be saved with a great salvation? And if you cannot 
say ‘‘Yes” to that question, let me ask you whether it may 
not be so yet? Soul, why has God spared you so long, while 


you are yet his enemy, a stranger to him, and far off from _ 


him by wicked works? Or, on the contrary, has he spared 
you—I tremble at the bare mention of the possibility—has 
he prolonged your days to develop your propensities, that. 
you may grow riper for damnation—that you may fill up | 


your measure of crying iniquity, and then go down to the pit ( K 


a sinner seared and dry, like wood that is ready for the fire? 


Can it be so? Shall these spared moments be spoiled by ~ 


misdemeanors, or shall they be given up to repentance, and _, 
to prayer? Will you now, ere the last of your suns shall set 
in everlasting darkness, will you now look unto him? If so, 


‘ iL you, too, have been left? When better saints than you 


# 





500 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


you will have reason to bless God through all eternity that 
_ you were left, because you were left that you might yet seek 
and might yet find him who is the Saviour of sinners. 


Do I speak to many of you who are Christians—and 
were snatched away from earthly ties and creature-kindred 
—when brighter stars than you were enclouded in night, 
were you permitted still to shine with your poor flickering 
yas Why was it, great God? Why am I now left? Let 
“me ask myself that question. In sparing me so long, my 
Vii has thou not something more for-me-to.do? Is there 
not some purpose as yet unconceived in my soul which thou 
wilt yet suggest to me, and to carry out which thou wilt 
yet give me grace and strength, and spare me again a little 
while? Am I yet immortal, or shielded at least from every 
arrow of death, because my work is incomplete? Is the 
tale of my years prolonged because the full tale of the bricks 
hath not been made up? ‘Then show me what thou wouldst 
have me do? Since thus I have been left, help me to feel 
myself a specially consecrated man, left for a purpose, re- 
served for some end, else I had been worms’ meat years 
ago, and my body had crumbled back to its mother earth. 


“Christian, I say, always be asking yourself this question ; 
‘ but especially be asking it when you are preserved in times 
of more than ordinary sickness and mortality. [fam left, 
_whyam-I-left? Why am I not taken home to heaven? 

‘Why do I not enter into my rest? Great God and Master, 


show me what thou wouldst have me do, and give me grace 


and strength to do it. 


Let us change the retrospect for a moment, and look 
upon the sparing mercy of God in another light. “TI was 
left.” Some of you now present, whose history I well know, 
can say, “I was left; and say it with peculiar emphasis. 


* ‘ 





SPARED! 501 


You were born of ungodly parents; the earliest words you 
can recollect were base and blasphemous, too bad to repeat. 
You can remember how the first breath your infant lungs 


received was tainted air—the air of vice, of sin, and iniq-© ° 


uity. You grew up, you and your brothers and your sis- 
ters, side by side; you filled the home with sin, you went on 
together in your youthful crimes, and encouraged each 
other in evil habits. Thus you grew up to manhood, and 
then you were banded together in ties of obliquity as well as 
in ties of consanguinity. You added to your number; you 
took in fresh associates. As your family circle increased, 
so did the flagrancy of your conduct. You all conspired to 
break the Sabbath; you devised the same scheme, and per- 
petrated the same improprieties. Perhaps you can recollect 
the time when Sunday invitations used always to be sent, a 
sneer at godliness was couched in the invitations. You 
recollect how one and another of your old comrades died; 
you followed them to their graves and your merriment was 
checked a little while, but it soon broke out again. ‘Then a 
sister died, steeped to the mouth in infidelity; after that a 
brother was taken; he had no hope in his death; all was 
darkness and despair before him. And so, sinner, thou hast 
outlived all thy comrades. If thou art inclined to go to hell, , 
thou must go there along a beaten track: a path which, as * 
thou lookest back upon the way thou hast trodden, is stained 
with blood; for thou canst remember how all that have been 
before thee have gone to the long home in dismal gloom, 
without a glimpse or ray of joy. And now thou art left, 
sinner; and, blessed be God, it may be you can say, “Yes, 
and I am not only left, but I am here in the house of prayer; 
and if I know my own heart, there is nothing I should hate 
so much as to live my old life over again. Here I am, and 
I never believed I should ever be here. I look back with 





502 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


mournfulness indeed upon those who have departed; but 
though mourning them, I express my gratitude to God that 
I am not in torments—not in hell—but still here; yea, not 
only here, but having a hope that I shall one day see the 
face of Christ, and stand amidst blazing worlds robed in 
_ his righteousness and preserved by his love.’’ You have 


been left, then, and what ought you to say?.-OQught you to 


_ boast? Oh no; be doubly humble. Should you take the 
\ honor to yourself? No; put the crown upon the head of 
. free, rich, undeserved grace. And what should you do above 
all other men? Why, you should be doubly pledged to serve 
_Christ. As you have served the devil through thick and 
thin, until you came to serve him alone, and your company 
had all departed, so by divine grace may you be pledged to 
Christ—to follow him, though all the world should despise 
him, and to hold on to the end, until, if every professor 
should be an apostate, it might yet be said of you at the last, 
‘‘He was left; he stood alone in sin while his comrades died; 
«and then he stood alone in Christ when his companions 
deserted him.” ‘Thus of you it should ever be said, ‘“‘He was 
lentes 
This suggests also one more form of the same retro- 
spect. What a special providence has watched over some 
of us, and guarded our feeble frames! There are some of 
‘you, in particular, who have been left to such an age that 
as you look back upon your youthful days you revoke far 
more of kinsfolk in the tomb than remain in the world, 
more under the earth than above it. In your dreams you 
are the associates of the dead. Still you are left. Pre- 
served amidst a thousand dangers of infancy, then kept in 
youth, steered safely over the shoals and quicksands of an 
immature age, and over the rocks and reefs of manhood, 
you have been brought past the ordinary period of mortal 





SPARED! 503 


life, and yet you are still here. Seventy years exposed to 
perpetual death, and yet preserved till you have come al- 
most, perhaps, to your fourscore years. You have been 
left, my dear brother, and why are you left? Why is it 
that brothers and sisters are all gone? Why is it that your 
old school-companions have gradually thinned? You can- 
not recollect one, now alive, who was your companion in 
youth. How is that now, you, who have lived in a certain 
quarter so long, see new names there on all the shop doors, 
new faces in the streets, and everything new to what you 
once saw in your young days? Why are you spared? Are 
you an unconverted man? are you an unconverted woman? 
To what.end are you spared? Is it that you may at the 
eleventh hour be saved?—-God grant it may be so—or art 
thou spared till thou shalt have sinned thyself into the low- 
est depths of hell that thou mayest go there the most aggra- 
vated sinner because of oft-repeated warnings as often 
neglected—art thou spared for this, or is it that thou mayest 
be saved? But art thou a Christian? ‘Then is it not hard 
for thee to answer the question, Why art thou spared? I~. 
do not believe there is an old woman on earth, living in the 
most obscure cot in England, and sitting this very night in 
the dark garret, with her candle gone out, without means 
to buy another—lI do not believe that old woman would be 
kept out of heaven five minutes unless God had something 
for her to do on earth; and I do not think that yon gray- 
headed man now would be preserved here unless there was 
somewhat for him to do. ‘Tell it out, tell it out, thou aged’ 
man; tell the story of that preserving grace which has kept 
thee up till now. Tell to thy children and to thy children’s 
children what a God he is whom thou hast trusted. Stand 
up as a hoary patriarch and tell how he delivered thee in six 
troubles, and in seven suffered no evil to touch thee, and 





504 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


“bear to coming generations thy faithful witness that his 
.. word is true, and that his promise cannot fail. Lean on thy 


staff, and say ere thou diest in the midst of thy family, “Not 
one good thing hath failed of all that the Lord God hath 
promised.” Let thy ripe days brings forth a mellow testi- 
mony to his love; and as thou hast more and more advanced 
in years, so be thou more and more advanced in knowledge 
and in confirmed assurance of the immutability of his coun- 
sel, the truthfulness of his oath, the preciousness of his 
blood, and the sureness of the salvation of all those who 
put their trust in him. ‘Then shall we know that thou art 
spared for a high and noble purpose indeed. ‘Thou shalt 
say it with tears of gratitude, and we will listen with smiles — 
of joy—“I was left.” 

2. I must rather suggest these retrospects than follow 
them up, though, did time permit, we might well enlarge | 
abundantly, and therefore [ must hurry on to invite you to 


_a.prospect. ‘“‘And I was left.” You and I shall soon pass 


out of this world into another. ‘This lifeis, as it were, but 
the ferry boat; we are being carried across, and we shall 


“soon come tothe true.shore,.the real terra firma, for here 
/there is nothing that is substantial. When we shall come 


/ into the next world we have to expect by and by a resurrec- 


. tion—a resurrection both of the just and of the unjust; and 
in that solemn day we are to expect that all that dwell upon 


the face of the earth shall be gathered together in one place. 
And he shall come, who came once to suffer, “he shall come 
to judge the world in righteousness, and the people in 
equity.” He who came as an infant shall come as the 
Infinite. He who lay wrapped in swaddling bands shall — 
come girt about the paps with a golden girdle, with a rain- 
bow wreath, and robes of storm. ‘There shall we all stand 
a vast innumerable company; earth shall be crowned from 





SPARED! 505 


her valley’s deepest base to the mountain’s summit, and the 
sea’s waves shall become the solid standing-place of men 
and women who have slept beneath its torrents. Then shall 
every eye be fixed on him, and every ear shall be open to 
him, and every heart shall watch with solemn awe and dread 
suspense for the transactions of that greatest of all days, 


that day of days, that sealing up of the ages, that completing 


of the dispensation. In solemn pomp the Saviour comes, 
and his angels with him. You hear his voice as he cries, | 
“Gather together the tares in bundles to burn them.” Be- 
hold the reapers, how they come with wings of fire! see how 
they grasp their sharp sickles which have long been grinding 
upon the mill-stone of God’s long-suffering, but have become 
sharpened at the last. Do you see them as they approach? 
And there they are mowing down a nation with their sickles. 
The vile idolators have just now fallen, and yonder a family 
of blasphemers has been crushed beneath the feet of the 
reapers. See there a bundle of drunkards being carried away 
upon the reapers’ shoulders to the great blazing fire. See 
again in another place the whoremonger, the adulterer, the 
unchaste, and such like, tied up in vast bundles—bundles the 
withes of which shall never be rent—and see them cast into 


the fire, and see how they blaze in the unutterable torments .. , 


of that pit: and shall I be left? Great God, shall I stand 


there wrapped in his righteousness alone, the righteousness 


of him who sits my Judge erect upon the judgment seat? ° 
Shall I, when the wicked shall cry, “Rocks hide us, mountains 
on us fall,” shall this eye look up, shall this face dare to turn 
itself to the face of him that sits upon the throne? Shall I 
stand calm and unmoved amidst universal terror and dis- 
may? Shall I be numbered with the godly company, who, 
clothed with the white linen which is the righteousness of 
the saints, shall await the shock, shall see the wicked hurled 





506 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


to destruction, and feel and know themselves secure? Shall 
it be so, or shall I be bound up in a bundle to burn, and swept 
away forever by the breath of God’s nostrils, like the chaff 
driven before the wind? It must be one or the other; which 
shall it be? Can I answer that question? CanI tell? I 
can tell it—tell it now—for I have in this very chapter that 
* which teaches me how to judge myself. They who are 
preserved have the mark in their foreheads, and they have 
a-character as well-as a mark, and their character is, that 
they sigh and cry for all the abominations of the wicked. 
Then, if I hate sin, and if I sigh because others love it— 
if I cry because I myself through infirmity fall into it—if 
the sin of myself and the sin of others in a constant source 
of grief and vexation of spirit to me, then have I that mark 
and evidence of those who shall neither sigh nor cry in the 
world to come, for sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 
Have I the blood mark on my brow today? Say, my soul, 
hast thou put thy trust in Jesus Christ alone, and as the 
fruit of the faith, has thy faith learned how to love, not 
only him that saveth thee, but others too, who as yet are 
‘vunsaved? And do I sigh and cry within while I bear the 
blood mark without? Come, brother, sister, answer this 
for thyself, I charge thee; I charge thee do so, by the tot- 
tering earth, and by the ruined pillars of heaven, that shall 
surely shake. I pray thee by the cherubim and seraphim 
that shall be before the throne of the great Judge; by the 
blazing lightnings, that shall then kindle the thick darkness, 
and make the sun amazed, and turn the moon into blood; by 
him whose tongue is like a flame—like a sword of fire; by 
him who shall judge thee, and try thee, and read thy heart — 
and declare thy ways, and divide unto thee thine eternal por- 
tion. I conjure thee, by the certainties of death, by the 
sureness of judgment, by the glories of heaven, by the so- 





SPARED! 507 


lemnities of hell—I beseech, implore, command, entreat 
thee—ask thyself now, “Shall I be left?’ Do I believe in 
Christ? Have I been born again? Have I a new heart 
and a right spirit? Or, am [ still what I always was— 
God’s enemy, Christ’s despiser, cursed by the law, cast out 
from the gospel, without God and without hope, a stranger 
to the commonwealth of Israel? Oh, I cannot speak to thee 
as earnestly as I would to God [ could. I want to thrust 
this question into your very loins, and stir up your heart’s 
deepest thoughts with it. Sinner, what will become of thee 
when God shall winnow the chaff from the wheat, what will 


be thy portion? ‘Thou that standest in the aisle yonder, ~~ 


what will be thy portion, thou who are crowded there what 
will be thy portion, when he shall come, and nothing shall 
escape his eye? Say, shalt thou hear him? Say, and shall 
thy heart-strings crack whilst he utters the thundering 
sound, ‘‘Depart, ye cursed;” or shall it be thy happy lot— 
thy soul transported all the while with bliss unutterable—to 
hear him say, ‘‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the 
kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the 
world.” Our text invites a_prospect. I pray you take it, 
and look across the narrow stream of death, and say, “Shall 


I be left?” 


‘When thou, my righteous Judge, shalt come, 
To fetch thy ransom’d people home, 
Shall I among them stand? 
Shall such a worthless worm as I, 
Who sometimes am afraid to die, 
Be found at thy right hand?” 


3. But now we come to a terrible contrast, which I 
think is permitted in the text—‘T was left.” ‘Then there 
will be some who will not be left in the sense we have been | 


508 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


~ speaking of, and yet who will be left after another and 
more dreadful manner. They will be left by mercy, for- 
saken by hope, given up by friends, and become a prey to 
the implacable fury, to the sudden, infinite, and unmiti- 
gated severity and justice of an angry God. But they will 
not be left or exempted from judgment, for the sword shall © 
find them out, the vials of Jehovah shall reach even to their 
hearts. And that flame, the pile whereof is wood, and much 
smoke shall’suddenly devour them, and that without-rem- 
-edy./ Sinner, thou.shalt.be left. I say, thou shalt be left of 
all those fond joys that thou huggest now—left of that — 
pride which now steels thy heart: thou wilt be low enough 
then. )Thou wilt be left of that iron constitution which now © 
seems to repel the dart of death. Thou shalt be left of those - 
companions of thine that entice thee on to sin and harden 
thee in iniquity. Thou shalt be left then of that pleasing 
fancy of thine, and of that-merry wit which can make sport 
of Bible truths and mock at divine solemnities. Thou shalt — 
be left then of all thy buoyant hopes, and of all thy imag- 
inary delights. Thou shalt be left-of-that sweet angel, © 
Hope, who never forsaketh any but.those who are con- 
demned to hell. ‘Thou-shalt-be-left_of God’ s Spirit, who — 
sometimes now. pleads..with.thee. Thou shalt be Teft of 
Jesus Christ, whose gospel hath been so often preached in 
thine ear. Thou shalt be left of God the Father: he shall 
shut his eyes of pity against thee, his bowels of compassion — 
shall no more yearn over thee; nor shall his heart regard | 
thy cries. \Thou shalt be left; but oh! again I tell thee, thou — 
“shalt not be left as one who hath escaped, for when the 
earth shall open to swallow up the wicked, it shall open at 
_thy feet and swallow thee up. When the fiery thunderbolt 
shall pursue the spirit that falls into the pit that is bottom-— 
less, it shall pursue thee and reach thee and find thee. When 








Mgt = 
- 





SPARED! 509 


God rendeth the wicked in pieces, and there shall be none 
to deliver, he shall rend thee in pieces, he shall be unto thee 
as a consuming fire, thy conscience shall be full of gall, thy 
heart shall be drunken with bitterness, thy teeth shall be 
broken even with gravel stones, thy hopes riven with his 
hot thunderbolts, and all thy joys withered and blasted by 


his breath. Oh! careless sinner, mad sinner, thou who art ~ 


dashing thyself now downward to destruction, why wilt 
thou play the fool at this rate? There are cheaper ways of 
making sport for thyself than this. Dash thy head against 
the wall; go scrabble there, and, like David, let thy spittle 
fall upon thy beard, but let not thy sin fall upon thy con- 
science, and let not thy despite of Christ be like a millstone 
hanged about thy neck, with which thou shalt be cast into 
the sea forever. Be wise, I pray thee. Oh, Lord, make the 
sinner wise; hush his madness for awhile; let him be sober 
and hear the voice of reason; let him be still and hear the 
voice of conscience; let him be obedient and hear the voice 
of Scripture. ‘Thus saith the Lord, because I will do this, 
consider thy ways.’ ‘‘Prepare to meet thy God.” “Oh, 
Israel, set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not 
live.” ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be 
saved.’ I do feel I have a message for some one tonight. 
Though there may be some who think the sermon not appro- 
priate to a congregation where there is so large a propor- 
tion of converted men and women, yet what a large portion 
of ungodly ones there are here too! I know that you come 
here, many of you, to hear some funny tale, or to catch at 
some strange, extravagant speech of one whom you repute 
to be an eccentric man. Ah, well, he is eccentric, and hopes 
to be so till he dies; but it is simply eccentric in being in 
earnest, and wanting to win souls. Oh, poor sinners, there 
is no odd tale I would not tell if I thought it would be 


510 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


blessed to you. There is no grotesque language which | © 
would not use, however it might be thrown back at me — 
again, if I thought it might but be serviceable to you. I 
set not my account to be thought a fine speaker; they that 
use fine language may dwell in the king’s palaces. I speak 
to you as one who knows he is accountable to no man, but 
only to his God; as one who shall have to render his 
account at the last great day. And I pray you now go not 
away to talk of this and that which you have remarked in 
my language. Think of this one thing, “Shall I be left? 
Shall I be saved? Shall I be caught up and dwell with 
Christ in heaven? or shall I be cast down to hell for ever i 
and ever?” ‘Turn over these things. Think seriously of 
them. Hear that voice ae says, ‘Him that cometh to me 
I will in no wise cast out.’’ Give heed to the voice which 
expostulates—‘‘Come now, let us reason together, saith the 
Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white 
as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as 
~-wool.’”’? How else shall your life be spared when the wicked — 
are judged? How else shall you find shelter when the © 
tempest of divine wrath rages? How else shall you stand 
in the lot of the righteous at the end of the days? 








Pe YS ae eet ee ee eee 


EO ee ee 


%: The Candle of the Lord 





PHILLIPS BROOKS 


HILLIPS BROOKS was born in Boston, Massachu- 

setts, on the 13th of December, 1835, and died in 
Boston, on the 23rd day of January, 1893. He was 
educated at Harvard and studied for the ministry at the 
theological seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 
Alexandria. He then became rector of the Church of the 
Advent, Philadelphia, and from 1862 to 1869 was rector 
of Holy Trinity Church, Philadelphia. From 1869 until 
1891 he was rector of Trinity Church, Boston. In 1891 
he was elected bishop of Massachusetts and served in that 
capacity until his death. 


Phillips Brooks was of noble and commanding presence, 
well over six feet in stature. His reputation as a preacher 
was established when he was rector of Holy ‘Trinity 
Church, Philadelphia, but his fame and influence reached 
their climax in Boston. His sermons were carefully writ- 
ten out before their delivery and spoken with an extraor- 
dinary speed of utterance. The great collection of sermons 
which he left behind him do not reveal a mind which 
grappled with the deeper problems of life and destiny, 
nor do they ring with the “grand particularities” of the 
Christian revelation. His sermons deal more with the 
suburban territory of Christian truth; but in that field 
they are among the best that have been produced. 

One of his best known and most frequently preached 
sermons was ‘““The Candle of the Lord.” He preached this 
sermon in Westminster Abbey on the Fourth of July, 
1879, and Lady Frances Baillie, Dean Stanley’s sister-in- 
law, relates how after the service she slipped out into the 
deanery by a private door and reached the drawing-room 


511 





S12 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


before any of the guests who were to come in from the 
Abbey. There she found the Dean in tears, and when he 
saw her he exclaimed that never had he been so moved by 
any sermon that he could remember. He who reads this 
sermon will have a good understanding of the pulpit range 


and the method of Phillips Brooks. 


The Candle of the Lord 


“The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord” (Prov. 20:27). 


, \HE essential connection between the life of God and 
the life of man is the great truth of the world; and 
that is the truth which Solomon sets forth in the 

striking words which I have chosen for my text this morning. 

The picture which the words suggest is very simple. An 

unlighted candle is standing in the darkness and some one 

comes to light it. A blazing bit of paper holds the fire at 
first, but it is vague and fitful. It flares and wavers and at 
any moment may go out. But the vague, uncertain, flaring 
blaze touches the candle, and the candle catches fire and at 
-once you have a steady flame. It burns straight and clear 
and constant. ‘Ihe candle gives the fire a manifestation- 
point for all the room which is illuminated by it. The candle 
is glorified by the fire and the fire is manifested by the 
candle. The two bear witness that they were made for one 
another by the way in which they fulfil each other’s life. 
That fulfilment comes by the way in which the inferior sub- 
stance renders obedience to its superior. The candle obeys 
the fire. The docile wax acknowledges that the subtle flame 
is its master and it yields to his power; and so, like every 
faithful servant of a noble master, it at once gives its mas- 
ter’s nobility the chance to utter itself, and its own substance 
is clothed with a glory which is not its own. ‘The dis- 
obedient granite, if you try to burn it, neither gives the fire 

a chance to show its brightness nor gathers any splendor to 

itself. It only glows with sullen resistance, and, as the heat 

increases, splits and breaks but will not yield. But the 
candle obeys, and so in it the scattered fire finds a point of 
permanent and clear expression. 


513 





514 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


Can we not see, with such a picture clear before us, what 
must be meant when it is said that one being is the candle of 
another being? ‘There is in a community a man of large, 
rich character, whose influence runs everywhere. You can- 
not talk with any man in all the city but you get, shown in 
that man’s own way, the thought, the feeling of that central 
man who teaches all the community to think, to feel. ‘The 
very boys catch something of his power, and have something 
about them that would not be there if he were not living in 
the town. What better description could you give of all 
that, than to say that that man’s life was fire and that all 
these men’s lives were candles which he lighted, which gave 
to the rich, warm, live, fertile nature that was in him multi- 
plied points of steady exhibition, so that he lighted the town 
through them? Or, not to look so widely, I pity you if in 
the circle of your home there is not some warm and living 
nature which is your fire. Your cold, dark candle-nature, 
touched by that fire, burns bright and clear. Wherever you 
are carried, perhaps into regions where that nature cannot 
go, you carry its fire and set it up in some new place. Nay, 
the fire itself may have disappeared, the nature may have 
vanished from the earth and gone to heaven; and yet still 
your candle-life, which was lighted at it, keeps that fire 
still in the world, as the fire of the lightning lives in the 
tree that it has struck, long after the quick lightning itself 
has finished its short, hot life and died. So the man in the 
counting-room is the candle of the woman who stays at 
home, making her soft influence felt in the rough places of 
trade where her feet never go; and so a man who lives like 
an inspiration in the city for honesty and purity and charity 
may be only the candle in whose obedient life burns still the 
fire of another strong, true man who was his father, and 
who passed out of men’s sight a score of years ago. Men 





THE CANDLE OF THE LoRD 515 


call the father dead, but he is no more dead than the torch 
has gone out which lighted the beacon that is blazing on the 
hill. 

And now, regarding all this lighting of life from life, 
two things are evident, the same two which appeared in the 
story of the candle and its flame: First, there must be a cor- 
respondency of nature between the two; and second, there 
must be a cordial obedience of the less to the greater. The 
nature which cannot feel the other nature’s warmth, even if 
it is held close to it; and the nature which refuses to be 
held where the other nature’s flame can reach it,—both of 
these must go unlighted, no matter how hotly the fire of the 
higher life may burn. 

I think that we are ready now to turn to Solomon and 
read his words again and understand them. “The spirit of 
man is the candle of the Lord,” he says. God is the fire of 
this world, its vital principle, a warm pervading pres- 
ence everywhere. What thing of outward nature can so 
picture to us the mysterious, the subtle, the quick, live, pro- 
ductive and destructive thought, which has always lifted 
men’s hearts and solemnized their faces when they have said 
the word GOD, as this strange thing,—so heavenly, so un- 
earthly, so terrible, and yet so gracious; so full of creative- 
ness, and yet so quick and fierce to sweep whatever opposes 
it out of its path,—this marvel, this beauty and glory and 
mystery of fire? Men have always felt the fitness of the 
figure; and the fire has always crowded, closest of all earthly 
elements, about the throne on which their conception of 
Deity was seated. And now of this fire the spirit of man is 
the candle. What does that mean? If, because man is of 
a nature which corresponds to the nature of God, and just 
so far as man is obedient to God, the life of God, which is 
spread throughout the universe, gathers itself into utter- 





516 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


ance; and men, aye, and all other things, if such beings 


there are, capable of watching our humanity, see what God 
is, in gazing at the man whom He has kindled,—then is 
not the figure plain? It is a wondrous thought, but it is 
clear enough. Here is the universe, full of the diffused fire 
of divinity. Men feel it in the air, as they feel an intense 


heat which has not broken into a blaze. That is the mean- — 


ing of a great deal of the unexplained, mysterious awfulness 


of life, of which they who are very much in its power are — 


often only half aware. It is the sense of God, felt but un- 
seen, like an atmosphere burdened with heat that does not 
burst out into fire. Now in the midst of this solemn, bur- 
dened world there stands up a man, pure, God-like, and 
perfectly obedient to God. In an instant it is as if the 
heated room had found some sensitive, inflammable point 
where it could kindle to a blaze. The vague oppressiveness 
of God’s felt presence becomes clear and definite. The fit- 
fulness of the impression of divinity is steadied into perma- 
nence. [he mystery changes its character, and is a mys- 
tery of light and not of darkness. The fire of the Lord has 
found the candle of the Lord, and burns clear and steady, 
guiding and cheering instead of bewildering and frightening 
us, just so soon as a man who is obedient to God has begun 
to catch and manifest His nature. 

I hope that we shall find that this truth comes very close 
to our personal, separate lives; but, before we come to that, 
let me remind you first with what a central dignity it clothes 
the life of man in the great world. Certain philosophies, 
which belong to our time, would depreciate the importance 
of man in the world, and rob him of his centralness. Man’s 
instinct and man’s pride rebel against them, but he is 
puzzled by their speciousness. Is it indeed true, as it seems, 


that the world is made for man, and that from man, stand- . 


f 





THE CANDLE OF THE LORD 517 





ing in the centre, all things besides which the world contains 
get their true value and receive the verdict of their destiny ? 
That was the old story that the Bible told. The book of 
Genesis with its Garden of Eden, and its obedient beasts 
waiting until the man should tell them what they should be 
called, struck firmly, at the beginning of the anthem of the 
world’s history, the great note of the centralness of man. 
And the Garden of Eden, in this its first idea, repeats itself 
in every cabin of the western forests or the southern jungles, 
where a new Adam and a new Eve, a solitary settler and his 
wife, begin as it were the human history anew. There once 
again the note of Genesis is struck, and man asserts his 
centralness. The forest waits to catch the color of his life. 
The beasts hesitate in fear or anger till he shall tame them 
to his service or bid them depart. The earth under his 
feet holds its fertility at his command, and answers the sum- 
mons of his grain or flower-seeds. [he very sky over his 
head regards him, and what he does upon the earth is 
echoed in the changes of the climate and the haste or slow- 
ness of the storms. ‘This is the great impression which all 
the simplest life of man is ever creating, and with which the 
philosophies, which would make little of the separateness 
and centralness of the life of man, must always have to 
fight. And this is the impression which is taken up and 
strengthened and made clear, and turned from a petty pride 
to a lofty dignity and a solemn responsibility, when there 
comes such a message as this of Solomon’s. He says that 
the true separateness and superiority and centralness of man 
is in that likeness of nature to God, and that capacity of 
spiritual obedience to Him, in virtue of which man may be 
the declaration and manifestation of God to all the world. 
So long as that truth stands, the centralness of man is sure. 
‘The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.” 





518 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


This is the truth of which I wish to speak to you today, 
the perpetual revelation of God by human life. You must 
ask yourself first, what God is. You must see how at the 
very bottom of His existence, as you conceive of it, lie these 
two thoughts—purpose and righteousness; how absolutely 
impossible it is to give God any personality except as the ful- 
filment of these two qualities—the intelligence that plans 
in love, and the righteousness that lives in duty. Then ask 
yourself how any knowledge of these qualities—of what 
they are, of what kind of being they will make in their per- 
fect combination—could exist upon the earth if there were 
not a human nature here in which they could be uttered, 
from which they could shine. Only a person can truly utter 
a person. Only from a character can a character be echoed. 
You might write it all over the skies that God was just, but 
it would not burn there. It would be, at best, only a bit 
of knowledge; never a Gospel; never something which it 
would gladden the hearts of men to know. That comes 
only when a human life, capable of a justice like God’s, 
made just by God, glows with His justice in the eyes of men, 
a candle of the Lord. 

I have just intimated one thing which we need to ob- 
serve. Man’s utterance of God is purely an utterance of 
quality. It can tell me nothing of the quantities which make 
up His perfect life. “That God is just, and what it is to be 
just—those things I can learn from the just lives of the just 
men about me; but how just God is, to what unconceived 
perfection, to what unexpected development of itself, that 
majestic quality of justice may extend in Him,—of that I 
can form no judgment, that is worth anything, from the 
justice that I see in fellow-man. This seems to me to widen 
at once the range of the truth which I am stating. If it be 
the quality of God which man is capable of uttering, then it 





THE CANDLE OF THE LoRD 519 


must be the quality of manhood that is necessary for the 
utterance; the quality of manhood, but not any specific 
quantity, not any assignable degree of human greatness. 
Whoever has in him the human quality, whoever really has 
the spirit of man, may be a candle of the Lord. A larger 
measure of the spirit may make a brighter light; but there 
must be a light wherever any human being, in virtue of his 
humanness, by obedience becomes luminous with God. 
There are the men of lofty spiritual genius, the leaders of 
our race. How they stand out through history! How all 
men feel as they pass into their presence that they are 
passing into the light of God! They are puzzled when 
they try to explain it. There is nothing more instructive 
and suggestive than the bewilderment which men feel when 
they try to tell what inspiration is,—how men become in- 
spired. The lines which they draw through the continual 
communication between God and man are always becoming 
unsteady and confused. But in general, he who comes into 
the presence of any powerful nature, whose power is at all 
of a spiritual sort, feels sure that in some way he is coming 
into the presence of God. But it would be melancholy if 
only the great men could give us this conviction. ‘The 
world would be darker than it is if every human spirit, so 
soon as it became obedient, did not become the Lord’s 
candle. A poor, meagre, starved, bruised life, if only it 
keeps the true human quality and does not become inhuman, 
and if it is obedient to God in its blind, dull, half-conscious 
way, becomes a light. Lives yet more dark than it is, be- 
come dimly aware of God through it. A mere child, in his 
pure humanity, and with his easy and instinctive turning of 
his life toward the God from whom he came,—it is one of 
the commonplaces of your homes how often he may burn 
with some suggestion of divinity, and cast illumination upon 





520 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


problems and mysteries whose difficulty he himself has 
never felt. There are great lamps and little lamps burning 
everywhere. The world is bright with them. You shut 
your book in which you have been holding communion with 
one of the great souls of all time; and while you are stand- 
ing in the light which he has shed about him, your child 
_ beside you says some simple, childlike thing, and a new 
thread of shining wisdom runs through the sweet and subtle 
thoughts that the great thinker gave you, as the light of a 
little taper sends its special needle of brightness through the 
pervasive splendor of a sunlit world. It is not strange. 
The fire is the same, whatever be the human lamp that gives 
it its expression. There is no life so humble that, if it be - 
true and genuinely human and obedient to God, it may not 
hope to shed some of His light. ‘There is no life so meagre 
that the greatest and wisest of us can afford to despise it. 
We cannot know at all at what sudden moment it may flash 
forth with the life of God. 

And in this truth of ours we have certainly the key to 
another mystery which sometimes puzzles us. What shall 
we make of some man rich in attainments and in generous 
desires, well educated, well behaved, who has trained him- 
self to be a light and help to other men, and who, now that 
his training is complete, stands in the midst of his fellow- 
men completely dark and helpless? ‘There are plenty of 
such men. We have all known them who have seen how 
men grow up. Their brethren stand around them expecting 
light from them, but no light comes. They themselves are 
full of amazement at themselves. They built themselves 
for influence, but no one feels them. They kindled them- 
selves to give light, but no one shines a grateful answer back 
to them. Perhaps they blame their fellow-men, who are 
too dull to see their radiance. Perhaps they only wonder 








THE CANDLE OF THE LORD 521 


what is the matter, and wait, with a hope that never quite 
dies out into despair, for the long-delayed recognition and 
gratitude. At last they die, and the men who stand about 
their graves feel that the saddest thing about their death is 
that the world is not perceptibly the darker for their dying. 
What does it mean? If we let the truth of Solomon’s figure 
play upon it, is not the meaning of the familiar figure simply 
this: These men are unlighted candles; they are the spirit 
of man, elaborated, cultivated, finished to its very finest, but 
lacking the last touch of God. As dark as a row of silver 
lamps, all chased and wrought with wondrous skill, all filled 
with rarest oil, but all untouched with fire,—so dark in this 
world is a long row of cultivated men, set up along the 
corridors of some age of history, around the halls of some 
wise university, or in the pulpits of some stately church, to 
whom there has come no fire of devotion, who stand in awe 
and reverence before no wisdom greater than their own, 
who are proud and selfish, who do not know what it is to 
obey. ‘There is the explanation of your wonder when you 
cling close to some man whom the world calls bright, and 
find that you get no brightness from him. There is the 
explanation of yourself, O puzzled man, who never can 
make out why the world does not turn to you for help. The 
poor blind world cannot tell its need, nor analyze its in- 
stinct, nor say why it seeks one man and leaves another; 
but through its blind eyes it knows when the fire of God has 
fallen on a human life. This is the meaning of the strange 
helpfulness which comes into a man when he truly is con- 
verted. It is not new truth that he knows, not new wonders 
that he can do, but it is that the unlighted nature, in the 
utter obedience and self-surrender of that great hour, has 
been lifted up and lighted at the life of God, and now burns 
with Him. 


$22 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


But it is not the worst thing in life for a man to be © 
powerless or uninfluential. “There are men enough for © 
whom we would thank God if they did no harm, even if if — 
they did no good. I will not stop now to question whether 
there be such a thing possible as a life totally without influ- © 
ence of any kind, whether perhaps the men of whom I have 
been speaking do not also belong to the class of whom I ~ 
want next to speak. However that may be, I am sure you ~ 
will recognize the fact that there is a multitude of men 
whose lamps are certainly not dark, and yet who certainly 
are not the candles of the Lord. A nature furnished richly — 
to the very brim, a man of knowledge, of wit, of skill, of — 
thought, with the very graces of the body perfect, and yet 
profane, impure, worldly, and scattering skepticism of all 
good and truth about him wherever he may go. His is | 
no unlighted candle. He burns so bright and lurid that © 
often the purer lights grow dim in the glare. But if it be 
possible for the human candle, when it is all made, when the © 
subtle components of a human nature are all mingled most 
carefully,—if it be possible that then, instead of being lifted — 
up to heaven and kindled at the pure being of Him who is © 
eternally and absolutely good, it should be plunged down 
into hell and lighted at the yellow flames that burn out of 
the dreadful brimstone of the pit, then we can understand 
the sight of a man who is rich in every brilliant human 
quality, cursing the world with the continual exhibition of 
the devilish instead of the godlike in his life. When the 
power of pure love appears as a capacity of brutal lust; 
when the holy ingenuity with which man may search the 
character of a fellow-man, that he may help him to be his 
best, is turned into the unholy skill with which the bad man 
studies his victim, that he may know how to make his dam- 
nation most complete; when the almost divine magnetism, 





THE CANDLE OF THE LORD 523 


which is given to a man in order that he may instil his 
faith and hope into some soul that trusts him, is used to 
breathe doubt and despair through all the substance of a 
friend’s reliant soul; when wit, which ought to make 
truth beautiful, is deliberately prostituted to the service 
of a lie; when earnestness is degraded to be the slave 
of blasphemy, and the slave’s reputation is made the cloak 
for the master’s shame,—in all these cases, and how fre- 
quent they are no man among us fails to know, you have 
simply the spirit of man kindled from below, not from 
above, the candle of the Lord burning with the fire of the 
devil. Still it will burn; still the native inflammableness of 
humanity will show itself. There will be light; there will 
be power; and men who want nothing but light and power 
will come to it. It is wonderful how mere power, or mere 
brightness, apart altogether from the work that the power 
is doing and the story that the brightness has to tell, will 
win the confidence and admiration of men from whom we 
might have expected better things. A bright book or a 
bright play will draw the crowd, although its meaning be 
detestable. A clever man will make a host of boys and men 
stand like charmed birds while he draws their principles 
quietly out of them and leaves them moral idiots. A whole 
great majority of a community will rush like foolish sheep 
to the polls and vote for a man whom they know is false and 
brutal, because they have learned to say that he is strong. 
All this is true enough; and yet while men do these wild 
and foolish things, they know the difference between the 
illumination of a human life that is kindled from above and 
that which is kindled from below. They know the pure 
flames of one and the lurid glare of the other; and however 
they may praise and follow wit and power, as if to be witty 
or powerful were an end sufficient in itself, they will always 





524 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


keep their sacredest respect and confidence for that power 
or wit which is inspired by God, and works for righteous- 
ness. 

There is still another way, more subtle and sometimes — 
more dangerous than these, in which the spirit of man may 
fail of its completest function as the candle of the Lord. 
The lamp may be lighted, and the fire at which it is lighted 
may be indeed the fire of God, and yet it may not be God — 
alone who shines forth upon the world. I can picture to 
myself a candle which should in some way mingle a pecu- — 
liarity of its own substance with the light it shed, giving 
to that light a hue which did not belong essentially to the — 
fire at which it was lighted. Men who saw it would see — 
not only the brightness of the fire. [hey would see 
also the tone and color of the lamp. And so it is, I 
think, with the way in which some good men manifest — 
God. They have really kindled their lives at Him. It © 
is His fire that burns in them. ‘They are obedient, and — 
so He can make them His points of exhibition; but they can- — 
not get rid of themselves. [hey are mixed with the God — 
they show. ‘They show themselves as well as Him. It is — 
as when a mirror mingles its own shape with the reflections — 
of the things that are reflected from it, and gives them a — 
curious convexity because it is itself convex. This is the 
secret of all pious bigotry, of all holy prejudice. It is the 
candle, putting its own color into the flame which it has 
borrowed from the fire of God. The violent man makes — 
God seem violent. ‘The speculative man makes God look 
like a beautiful dream. The legal man makes God look like 
a hard and steel-like law. Here is where all the harsh and 
narrow part of sectarianism comes from. The narrow 
Presbyterian or Methodist, or Episcopalian or Quaker, full 
of devoutness, really afire with God—what is he but a 








THe CANDLE OF THE LoRD 525 


candle which is always giving the flame its color, and which, 
by a disposition which many men have to value the little 
parts of their life more than the greater, makes less of the 
essential brightness of the flame than of the special color 
which it lends to it? It seems, perhaps, as if, in saying this, 
I threw some slight or doubt upon that individual and sep- 
arate element in every man’s religion, on which, upon the 
contrary, I place the very highest value. Every man who 
is a Christian must live a Christian life that is peculiarly 
his own. Every candle of the Lord must utter its peculiar 
light; only the true individuality of faith is marked by these 
characteristics which rescue it from bigotry; first, that it 
does not add something to the universal light, but only 
brings out most strongly some aspect of it which is specially 
its own; second, that it always cares more about the essen- 
tial light than about the peculiar way in which it utters it; 
and third, that it easily blends with other special utterances 
of the universal light, in cordial sympathy and recognition 
of the value which it finds inthem. Let these characteristics 
be in every man’s religion, and then the individuality of 
faith is an inestimable gain. ‘Then the different candles of 
the Lord burn in long rows down His great palace-halls of 
the world; and all together, each complementing all the 
rest, they light the whole vast space with Him. 

I have tried to depict some of the difficulties which be- 
set the full exhibition in the world of this great truth of 
Solomon, that “the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.” 
Man is selfish and disobedient, and will not let his life burn 
at all. Man is wilful and passionate, and kindles his life 
with ungodly fire. Man is narrow and bigoted, and makes 
the light of God shine with his own special color. But all 
these are accidents. All these are distortions of the true 
idea of man. How can we know that? Here is the perfect 





526 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


man, Christ Jesus! What a man Heis! How nobly, beau- 
tifully, perfectly human! What hands, what feet, what an 
eye, what a heart! How genuinely, unmistakably a man! 
I bring the men of my experience or of my imagination into 
His presence, and behold, just when the worst or best of 
them falls short of Him, my human consciousness assures 
me that they fall short also of the best idea of what it is to 
be aman. Here is the spirit of man in its perfection. And 
what then? Is it not also the candle of the Lord? “I am 
come a light into the world,” said Jesus. “He that hath 
seen Me hath seen the Father.”’ “In Him was life and the 
life was the light of men.’ So wrote the man of all men 
who knew Him best. And in Him where are the difficulties 
that we saw? Where for one moment is the dimness of 
selfishness? Oh, it seems to me a wonderful thing that the 
supremely rich human nature of Jesus never for an instant 
turned with self-indulgence in on its own richness, or was 
beguiled by that besetting danger of all opulent souls, the 
wish, in the deepest sense, just to enjoy himself. How fas- 
cinating that desire is. How it keeps many and many of 
the most abundant natures in the world from usefulness. 
Just to handle over and over their hidden treasures, and 
with a spiritual miserliness to think their thought for the 
pure joy of thinking, and turn emotion into the soft atmos- 
phere of a life of gardened selfishness. Not one instant of 
that in Jesus. All the vast richness of His human nature 
only meant for Him more power to utter God to man. 

And yet how pure His rich life was. How it abhorred 
to burn with any fire that was not divine. Such abundant 
life, and yet such utter incapacity of any living but the 
holiest; such power of burning, and yet such utter incapacity 
of being kindled by any torch but God’s; such fullness with 
such purity as was never seen besides upon the earth; and 


THE CANDLE OF THE LORD 527 


yet we know as we behold it that it is no monster, but only 
the type of what all men must be, although all men but Him 
as yet have failed to be it. 

And yet again there was intense personality in Him 
without a moment’s bigotry. A special life, a life that 
stands distinct and self-defined among all the lives of men, 
and yet a life making the universal God all the more uni- 
versally manifest by its distinctness, appealing to all lives 
just in proportion to the intensity of the individuality that 
filled His own. Oh, think I need only bid you look at Him, 
and you must see what it is to which our feeble lights are 
struggling. There is the true spiritual man who is the can- 
dle of the Lord, the light that lighteth every man. 

It is distinctly a new idea of life, new to the standards 
of all our ordinary living, which this truth reveals. All our 
ordinary appeals to men to be up and doing, and make 
themselves shining lights, fade away and become insignif- 
cant before this higher message which comes in the words 
of Solomon and in the life of Jesus. What does this higher 
message say? ‘You are a part of God! You have no 
place or meaning in this world but in relationship to Him. 
The full relationship can only be realized by obedience. Be 
obedient to Him, and you shall shine by His light, not your 
own. Then you cannot be dark, for He shall kindle you. 
Then you shall be as incapable of burning with false pas- 
sion as you shall be quick to answer with the true. Then 
the devil may hold his torch to you, as he held it to the 
heart of Jesus in the desert, and your heart shall be as un- 
inflammable as His. But as soon as God touches you, you 
shall burn with a light so truly your own that you shall 
reverence your own mysterious life, and yet so truly His 
that pride shall be impossible.” What a philosophy of 
human life is that. ‘‘Oh, to be nothing, nothing!” cries the 


$28 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WoRLD 


mystic singer in his revival hymn, desiring to lose himself 
in God. “Nay not that; Oh to be something, something,” 
remonstrates the unmystical man, longing for work, ardent 
for personal life and character. Where is the meeting of 
the two? How shall self-surrender meet that high self- 
value without which no man can justify his living and honor 
himself in his humanity? Where can they meet but in this 
truth? Man must be something that he may be nothing. 
The something which he must be must consist in simple fit- 
ness to utter the divine life which is the only original power 
in the universe. And then man must be nothing that he may 
be something. He must submit himself in obedience to 
God, that so God may use him, in some way in which his 
special nature only could be used, to illuminate and help the 
world. ‘Tell me, do not the two cries meet in that one aspi- 
ration of the Christian man to find his life by losing it in 
God, to be himself by being not his own but Christ’s? 

In certain lands, for certain holy ceremonies, they pre- 
pare the candles with most anxious care. The very bees 
which distil the wax are sacred. ‘They range in gardens 
planted with sweet flowers for their use alone. ‘The wax is 
gathered by consecrated hands; and then the shaping of the 
candles is a holy task, performed in holy places, to the 
sound of hymns, and in the atmosphere of prayers. All this 
is done because the candles are to burn in the most lofty 
ceremonies on most sacred days. With what care must the 
man be made whose spirit is to be the candle of the Lord! 
It is his spirit which God is to kindle with Himself. There- 
fore the spirit must be the precious part of him. The body 
must be valued only for the protection and the education 
which the soul may gain by it. And the power by which 
his spirit shall become a candle is obedience. ‘Therefore 
obedience must be the struggle and desire of his life; obe- 





THe CANDLE OF THE LorpD 529 


dience, not hard and forced, but ready, loving, and spon- 
taneous; the obedience of the child to the father, of the 
candle to the flame; the doing of duty not merely that the 
duty may be done, but that the soul in doing it may become 
capable of receiving and uttering God; the bearing of pain 
not merely because the pain must be borne, but that the 
bearing of it may make the soul able to burn with the 
divine fire which found it in the furnace; the repentance 
of sin and acceptance of forgiveness, not merely that the 
soul may be saved from the fire of hell, but that it may be 
touched with the fire of heaven, and shine with the love of 
God, as the stars, forever. 

Above all the pictures of life,—of what it means, of 
what may be made out of it,—there stands out this picture 
of a human spirit burning with the light of the God whom 
it obeys, and showing Him to other men. O, my young 
friends, the old men will teli you that the lower pictures of 
life and its purposes turn out to be cheats and mistakes. 
But this picture can never cheat the soul that tries to realize 
it. The man whose life is a struggle after such obedience, 
when at last his earthly task is over, may look forward 
from the borders of this life into the other, and humbly 
say, as his history of the life that is ended, and his prayer 
for the life that is to come, the words that Jesus said—"'I 
have glorified Thee on the earth; now, O Father, glorify 
Me with Thyself forever.” 


NYY rs . 





The Letter and the Spirit 





FRANCIS L. PATTON 


RANCIS LANDEY PATTON was born on Janu- 

ary 22, 1843, at Warwick, Bermuda, where he now 
resides. He was educated at Knox College, Toronto, and 
Princeton Theological Seminary. He was ordained as a 
minister in the Presbyterian Church in 1865, and was 
pastor of churches in Nyack, N. Y., Brooklyn and Chicago. 
From 1872 to 1881, he was the Cyrus H. McCormick 
professor in McCormick Theological Seminary, and from 
1874 to 1888, professor of the relations of philosophy and 
science to the Christian religion in Princeton Theological 
Seminary. From 1888 to 1902, he was President of 
Princeton University and from 1902 to 1913, President of 
Princeton Theological Seminary. In 1878, he was elected 
Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church in the United States of America. A great apolo- 
gete, Dr. Patton is also unique and powerful as a preacher. 
He makes liberal use of scholastic terms and theological 
conceptions, but has been able to interest popular audiences 
in the great themes of philosophy and religion. He is a 
stalwart defender of the supernatural in the Christian 
revelation and an ardent proclaimer of the “‘bleeding Christ 
as the central fact of the Scriptures.”’ As he leans on his 
pulpit, turning sharply to the right, his fine intellectual 
face lighted up with the glow of truth, and his voice in 
the midst of his climaxes piercing like a trumpet, Dr. 
Patton leaves an impression upon his hearers never to 
be forgotten. 


531 


Ahh wit Se * a 
Pei, OF hy Xi ve 
ee ae i 





The Letter and the Spirit 


“For the Letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth Life” (2 Cor. 3:6). 


HERE is no doubt, I suppose, that when the Apostle 
made use of this familiar antithesis he intended, in 
the first place, to distinguish between the Law and 
the Gospel: between the written code, with its rigid require- 
ments which can only awaken a sense of helplessness and 
only intensify the feeling of loss; and the indwelling, grace- 
bestowing, comfort-giving Spirit. But it can hardly be 
questioned that the words of this verse may be properly 
used in a wider sense, and that this wider sense is at least 
implicitly recognized by the Apostle himself. I should only 
be illustrating the truth of the text understood in this 
broader sense, were I to insist upon a literalism of interpre- 
tation that would tolerate no application of it outside of 
the sphere within which it was originally employed; and I 
think I can better serve the purpose I have in view to-day, 
and can better adapt my discourse to the circumstances of 
this time and place, by taking advantage of some of the 
more obvious contrasts which these words are so well fitted 
to suggest. 3 
1. It is true that the word pneuma here has special 
reference to the Holy Spirit, but it also signifies the human 
spirit and with the word gramma as the other term of the 
antithesis, I think there is nothing violent or strained in 
making the suggested contrast between Language and 
Thought the first topic for consideration. 
Thought and not the mode of its expression, mind and 
not the drapery in which it is enveloped, should be our first 
concern. It is fatal to elevating work to let energy termi- 


533 





534 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


nate in the letter. The aim of the true scholar is to go be- 
hind the letter to the spirit. The bare suggestion of lan- 
guage as the means of communicating thought presents to 
us one of the most wonderful facts in life. It is the com- 
monplace after all that is the most mysterious. “Thought 
leaps the chasm of two separate personalities and excites no 
wonder. We lay bare the secrets of our inner life to each 
other and then wonder at actio in distans and cavil at the 
possibility of divine communication. So easy is it to strain 
at the gnat and swallow the camel. 

To think and speak; to have ideas and register them; to 
make ourselves plain; to find a common measure of thought 
among the many coins of speech; to converse with our con- 
temporaries in the morning newspaper and hold fellowship 
with the dead in the books that keep their memories alive— 
this, if we only stopped to consider it, is the marvel of exis- 
tence. A mystery, I grant, and one made no easier of solu- 
tion by the suicidal philosopher who tries through pages of 
labored excogitation to reduce thought to mechanism and 
then sends his book with his compliments to the courteous 
reader, in the hope that he will think that the author is a 
thinker of uncommon intellect in thus demonstrating with 
such convincing logic, and such array of physiological testi- 
mony, that there is no thought and no thinker at all. 

‘Thought and not the mode of its expression, mind and 
need no other. Language is thought’s portrait, the print 
of thought’s finger. It is easy to see, therefore, why the 
study of language, as distinguished from literature, should 
occupy a high place in the Academic curriculum. It is of 
great moment to understand the forms of thought, to follow 
its curves and watch its subtleties and niceties of distinction 
as we are able to do after it has been hardened and colored 
in speech. You may learn a great deal of psychology from 


| 


P 
‘ 
: 


4 








THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT 535 





the Greek prepositions. The subjunctive mood will often 
prove a shorter road to the human mind than the psycho- 
metric experiments of Fechner and Wundt. We may, how- 
ever, make too much of philology, and even though we had 
to be satisfied with less grammar, I would have more litera- 
ture. Let us read Milton, rather than read about him, and 
read him as we love to read him, rather than at the snail’s 
pace indicated by Ruskin. 

Translation is dificult work, as we have been so re- 
cently reminded by Mr. Pater and Mr. Lowell. To do it 
well requires that we should know the letter, but it requires 
also—what is more difficult to attain—that we should catch 
the spirit of the author, that we should see with his eyes 
and rethink his thoughts. It is a pretty conceit of Marion 
Crawford which leads him, in one of his later works, to 
represent his hero as taking advantage of the recent ad- 
vances in electrical science—thereby removing the barriers 
that separate him from the unseen world—and holding face 
to face fellowship “with the immortals.” This is exactly 
what a liberal education is intended to do. This is what it 
has done for you, if you have improved your opportunities 
here, unless our methods are deplorably bad. This is why 
we learn Latin and Greek, and master the difficulties of 
vocabulary. I do not deny that it is of advantage to know 
the laws of phonetic change, and that there is intellectual 
training in the knowledge of word forms. But when classi- 
cal training is useful only as dumb-bells and parallel bars are 
useful, it is writing a commentary on my text. Master syn- 
tax for disciplinary ends; and master it also, as Richard de 
Bury says, that we may thereby open royal roads into liter- 
ature. But remember that the thought is more than the 
word; that at best the word is but a symbol, a suggestion of 
the thought, and rarely its equivalent. He who reads liter- 





536 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


ally reads poorly. Even jurisprudence, the science that 
holds speech to strictest account, admits that there are times — 
when we must not only judge what a man intends to say by 
what he says, but what he says by what he obviously meant 
to say. Heret in litera, heretincortice. There is too little 
classical study of the purely literary kind among us. We 
either know as specialists and know little else, or we know ~ 
practically nothing. And it is probably hard to unite the 
functions of the general and the special scholar. Few men — 
can expend energy on the letter sufficient to write the notes 
to Mayor’s Juvenal, and then write an ‘‘advertisement”’ to 
the volume that quivers in every line with sympathetic inter- 
est in the questions of the day. 

I say nothing regarding letters which is not true of 
science also. For the facts which the man of science handles 
are only the letters with which he is trying to spell out the 
thought embodied in them. He may amuse himself with the 
shapes of these letters, put them in bundles and give them 
names, but so long as he is simply engaged with facts, he is 
employed in business no better than playing chess or solving 
puzzles. It is when he hits upon some key to Nature’s 
cipher; it is when he is using his facts in verification of an 
hypothesis that stands for thought that he is doing work 
worthy of scientific fame. Otherwise he is only a census 
taker in the kingdom of nature; a cataloguer in the library 
of truth, writing titles and reading the backs of books. 

Let not the humanist, however, speak to the disparage- 
ment of science, for if he is only using language as material 
for the exercise of his own thought, if the results of his 
labors are not the basis of generalizations that stand for 
thought, then he is simply collecting facts, gathering useless 
knowledge and printing interminable masses of unreadable 
material. And indeed this, to a large extent, is the condition 





THe LETTER AND THE SPIRIT $37 


of things to-day. We are over-specializing; and the danger 
is that our scholars will become simply operatives under a 
great system of contract labor; full of opinions on subjects 
of which we have no knowledge, and full of knowledge on 
subjects that give no basis for opinion. We are over- 
whelmed with material and in danger of being submerged 
in the mass of facts which we cannot reduce to system. How 
often, as we see ambition spurred to new endeavor, are we 
reminded of these words of the text: The letter killeth; the 
spirit giveth life. 

Ah, Science! you want fact. You proclaim the sover- 
eignty of fact, the reign of law, the almightiness of induc- 
tion, the empire of sense. Your votaries have reduced his- 
tory to science, and philosophy to science, and religion to 
science, and language to science; and when you have done 
all, what have you gained? A mass of unorganized ma- 
terial; a box of Chinese puzzles; a rubbish heap of mono- 
graphs on Greek adverbs, Coptic manuscripts, Babylonian 
pottery, the Pythagorean theory of the universe, and so 
forth, without order and without plan—or else there is a 
thought, an idea, a generalization behind it all. ‘The des- 
tiny of it all is death and the dunghill, or else there is some 
informing, quickening idea to give it shape and comeliness. 
Do your best: the philosopher, the apostle of the idea, is 
needed to make these dry bones live. 

Whose thought then lies behind this language of fact? 
Is it your subjective state that you have been imposing upon 
nature as the law of her operations when you have formu- 
lated the doctrine of gravitation? Is it your subjectivity 
that imposes a meaning upon Hamlet and Faust, no thanks 
to Shakespeare and Goethe? Will you split the difference 
between the two rival philosophers by an arbitrary decision 
to be objective in your recognition of the fact, and sub- 





538 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


jective in your explanation of the fact? Or will you see 
behind the letter the spirit; behind the fact the idea that 
gives meaning to the fact and makes you a sharer in the 
thought of God? I do not wonder that the man of science 
magnifies his office and feels proud of his high calling. 
Back of the barriers of speech, indeed, that melt away with 
our knowledge of a foreign tongue stand ‘“‘the immortals,” 
and we may converse with them to our heart’s content. But 
back of the syllables of science and waiting only for the 
spirit of reverence for its enjoyment lies fellowship with 
God. 

The literary artist has recalcitrant material to deal with. 
With the author thought is too volatile, and with the trans- 
lator language is too opaque. So that between the incapa- 
city of the containing vessel and the chance of spilling in our 
attempts to decant it into another, we run the risk of losing 
some of the wine of genius. This is true of human thought; 
how much more true must it be of divine thought. We can- 
not give too much attention then to the very words in which 
our Bible is written, and the more fully we believe in its 
inspiration the more anxious we shall be to have a correct 
text and a close translation. But we may have both and 
miss the spirit of Revelation. We may have a bald literal- 
ism of rendering that sacrifices good English to Greek 
idiom, and saves the letter at the expense of the Spirit. 
We may load our memory with “various readings” and be 
so microscopic in our study of the text as to be unable to see 
the full contour of a Divine idea. We may carry reverence 
for the Word to the extent of being undiscriminating wor- 
shippers of words, and by our unintelligent literalism miss 
the meaning that the words convey. When I find men treat- 
ing metaphor as fact and reading poetry as they would 
construe an act of Congress, seeking a spiritual sense in 





THe LETTER AND THE SPIRIT 539 


every common-place expression, missing the point of the 
parable of the prodigal son by asking who was the ‘‘elder 
brother,” and invoking the joint assistance of chemistry and 
the book of Leviticus in the interpretation of the parable 
of the leaven, I feel that Matthew Arnold, with all his 
faults, at least deserves credit for reminding us that the 
Bible is to be treated as literature. But we must go further 
before we can be said to have passed beyond the letter in 
our study of Scripture. For though as literature, it may be 
read with due regard to the historical conditions under 
which it was produced, with proper attention to differences 
of style and form of composition, we have not read it as we 
should when we have mastered its geographical details, 
studied its archeology, learned to prize the beauties of 
Isaiah and Job, or appreciate the high moral level of the 
Sermon on the Mount. To regard the Bible simply as 
literature provokes in me a feeling akin to that which I 
have for the system once in vogue of making the Gospel of 
John an easy introduction to the study of Greek. We de- 
grade the book by teaching it under false pretenses. We 
dishonor truth when we teach it with a suppressio veri. I 
am in full sympathy with the idea that the Bible—the Eng- 
lish Bible if you like that way of describing it better— 
should have a place in the college curriculum, but I want it 
understood that it is to be taught with distinct regard to its 
Divine authority, and the great doctrines of Redemption 
that it contains. 

You have made but a poor use of your facilities here, my 
friends, if you are not able to make the distinction I have 
named. ‘This indeed is no small part of education. We 
have tried to train you so as to bring you under the power 
of ideas. We have aimed to educate you so that you may 
become scholars and not pedants; jurists and not petti- 





540 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


foggers; men of science and not the bottle washers of a 


laboratory; theologians and not textualists; religious men ~ 


who think again through God’s word the thoughts of God, 
and not dealers in cant phrases or slaves of a stupid literal- 
ism. 

2. ‘The same antithesis with which we are dealing may 
serve also to stand for the contrast between the accidental 
and the essential in matters of literary judgment and of 
religious opinions. Print does not discriminate. Even 
punctuation is a modern device, and jurisprudence disdains 
it to this day. It gives no weight to the commas and semi- 
colons with which we sprinkle our pages, sometimes in de- 
fault of a clear style, or a correct syntax. It allows no 
vulgar italics to lend artificial emphasis to what is written, 
but leaves the thought to make its way to the mind with no 
other presupposition than the intelligence of the reader. 
This is indeed often a large demand, but there seems to be 


as yet no sufficient substitute for brains; and to one normally — 


furnished in this regard it is a self-evident proposition that 
though the printed word does not say so, all thoughts are 
not of equal value nor worthy of the same emphasis. No 
obligation rests upon us, for instance, to treat all the poet’s 
verse as of equal beauty and force because he has not seen 
fit to show any favoritism to the children of his brain. It is 
not our fault that there are only three lines worth remem- 
bering in Wordsworth’s Peter Bell. All that is said is not 
worth repeating. All human deeds are not worth recording. 
Worthless when new, they do not gain importance with the 
lapse of time. The phonograph that listens to-day and re- 
produces the nonsense of conversation a hundred years 
hence will amuse, but it will not edify. It occurs to me to 
say this when I consider the prevalent mania for original 
research. Just now it is affecting historians and men of 


= > a 


. 


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THe LETTER AND THE SPIRIT 541 


letters. You may know history—you may have your Gib- 
bon, your Hallam and your Freeman at your fingers’ ends 
but you are no historian unless you have studied the sources. 
If, however, you have discovered a manuscript that will 
add a new chapter to the life of some tenth-rate Cavalier 
or Round-head, if you can come forth from your labors 
with the dust of an old library on your fingers, you have 
earned the title to fame. But why? Why discriminate thus 
against the man who knows much in favor of him who pro- 
duces little? Do I deny that your work is good? By no 
means. That you have brought something new to light, and 
so have made a contribution to knowledge? No. Or that 
your work has given you good training in the use of tools? 
No. Nor would I deny that it is a useful thing for our 
young civil engineers to survey the college campus every 
year, or measure the Brooklyn Bridge. I am only thinking 
that you lack perspective; that you are mistaking pains and 
trouble and a monopoly of useless information for history; 
that you are in danger of putting all facts upon the same 
level and of ranking the genealogy of a Mayflower family 
with the Norman Conquest. You are deceived by the letter 
and miss the spirit. You have adopted Gradgrind’s philoso- 
phy. ‘The demand is for fact, and so it comes to pass that 
in the examination paper Oklahoma counts for as much as 
Thermopylz, and the date of the last constitutional amend- 
ment is thought to have as good a right to a vacant memory 
cell as A. D. 1453 or 1688. 

We read books and study the history of opinion often 
with the same disregard of proportion—remembering what 
we ought to forget and forgetting what we ought to re- 
member; making no allowance for circumstances and giving 
the same value to obiter dicta that we accord to reasoned 
opinions. Find Calvin tripping in a casual remark, then 





542 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


vilify his system: this is what men do. Or because one calls 
himself a disciple of Augustine, hold him responsible for 
all that Augustine taught, as though one must believe in 
the virtues of tar-water because he is a Berkleyan. 
Uneducated men, perhaps, find it hard to make the dis- 
tinctions between essence and accident here referred to. 
All statements appear to them like items on a ledger to be 
reckoned in the same way. But educated men ought to 
know better. They ought to know that a man can be a 
Lutheran without believing all that Luther believed, or 
accept the Hegelian conception of the universe without 
sympathizing in detail with Hegel’s peculiar views. It 
ought not to be difficult to understand that a creed statement 
may be accurate in doctrinal content though colored by the 
time in which it was written, and dealing with conditions 
of thought that no longer exist. And it must also be evident 
that it would be hard to avoid the appearance of anachron- 
ism if we undertook to weave the thoughts of this genera- 
tion into a document that on its title-page purports to have 
been written two hundred and fifty years ago. A little exer- 
cise of judgment, however, a little effort to distinguish be- 
tween essence and accident, abiding fact and accidental set- 
ting, in short, to read the spirit in the letter would save 
all the trouble. We may as well learn to exercise this power 
of judgment on the creeds, for we shall have to exercise it 
on the Scriptures. All Scripture is inspired, but it does not 
all possess the same religious value. All Scripture is truth, 
but all Scriptural truth is not of equal importance. Essen- 
tial to the organic structure of the Bible all of it un- 
doubtedly is, but not equally essential to spiritual life and 
religious education. When men say they wish the Bible to 
be taught without doctrine, I reply that the doctrines of the 
Bible are more important than much of the Bible itself. 





THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT 543 


The sense of Scripture is the Scripture, and rather than 
miss the sense we could afford to do without certain forms 
of Bible knowledge. ‘There is in the Bible as in other litera- 
ture what may be called the essential and the accidental, and 
it is an act of intelligence to distinguish between them. I 
read the Cosmogony and get out of it the doctrine of crea- 
tion, the ascent of life, the supremacy of man and his 
primeval purity. I am willing to fill up the great categories 
of Genesis with the help of science and so make the general- 
izations that follow the study of one of God’s books help 
in the interpretation of the other. I read in the words of 
the Saviour the generic ideas that should control social exis- 
tence and the great principles that should guide conduct, 
but I do not suppose that the illustration of a principle 
should be construed with literal exactness. I do not expect 
to handle venomous reptiles with impunity. I do not expect 
faith to supersede medical treatment or cure organic 
disease; and I do not find either in the Sermon on the 
Mount or in the Apostolic community of goods an argument 
for socialism and the denial of the rights of property. I 
believe that Paul was inculcating an important principle 
when he discouraged the appearance of Christians as liti- 
gants in heathen courts; but I would not on that account 
conclude that all litigation is sin, and that the legal profes- 
sion is incompatible with Christianity. “To be sure the dis- 
tinction between essence and accident involves serious re- 
sponsibility, for in attempting to make it we may err. Iam 
sure that Arnold erred and that his literary judgment was 
warped by his prejudices when he made ethics the main 
thing in Scripture and represented the dogmas of Chris- 
tianity as the accidents of Pauline teaching. For what is 
the Bible? What is the evolution of Biblical ideas but the 
growth of a few great dogmatic conceptions? ‘The essence 





544 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


of Scripture, the core of the Old Testament and the New, 
is the doctrine that without the shedding of blood there is no 
remission of sins, and that God was in Christ reconciling 
the world unto Himself, not imputing unto men their tres- 
passes. It is the Divine purpose that brings the Bible into 
line with the facts of the material world. It is the Incarna- 
tion that gives organic character to Scripture. It is human 
guilt that constitutes the great presupposition of Revela- 
tion. It is the doctrine of faith as man’s response to the 
overtures of love that meets the exigencies of man’s moral 
nature and makes the Bible the best and greatest message 
that man ever had. Why, then, do men tell me that they 
wish the Bible taught religiously but not doctrinally? Why 
do educated men who have been taught to distinguish be- 
tween the letter and the spirit show such proneness to mis- 
take when they touch religious themes? Yet the world is 
full of men who speak in this way. These are the men who 
stand in our pulpits and preach on the patience of Job and 
the moral courage of Daniel; who find material for senti- 
mental sermons on the seasons, and entertaining sermons on 
the social follies of the day, and practical sermons on the im- 
portance of sleep or the need of restricting immigration, 
but who are silent respecting the tremendous fact of sin and 
the dogmatic significance of atoning blood. I do not say 
that such men are handling the Word of God deceitfully, 
for I am willing to have them plead guilty if they prefer 
to an unscholarly stupidity that prevents them from seeing 
that the bleeding Christ is the central fact of Scripture. Let 
me beg you, gentlemen, to heed this lesson of the text. 
Cultivate a wise discrimination. Read the best books. Seize 
upon master thoughts. Get hold of the big end of the ques- 
tions that invite your scrutiny. Distinguish between what 
is vital and what is of no importance. Garner the wheat; 





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THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT 545 


let the chaff go. Rest your opinions on broad and deep ra- 
tional foundations. Follow this method in religion. A 
few principles, a few facts, carry the whole fabric of Chris- 
tianity. Follow the great trend of evidence and do not halt 
for minor difficulties. Let the great outlying facts of Chris- 
tianity determine your faith, and do not let trifles feed your 
doubt. You are sticking in the bark, you may be sure, when 
you let a textual difficulty, or an historical discrepancy, or a 
hard question in ethics, or a dogmatic mystery hinder your 
acceptance of the historic Christ as the Saviour of the 
world. 

3. I come now to the consideration of another distinc- 
tion suggested by the text. 

It is difficult to resist the feeling that there was in Paul’s 
mind the contrast between the rigid fixity of the letter on the 
one hand and the plastic spontaneity of the spirit on the 
other. Litera scripta manet. The written word does not 
change. But the living organism is constantly adjusting 
itself to new conditions, and changing to suit them. We have 
then the fixed and the variable, unbending law and changing 
life. ‘Che history of the world, of society, of religious opin- 
ion, is to a large extent the history of these two factors in 
their relations to each other. The legal code becomes too 
narrow to suit the exigencies of an expanding life and it 
changes in fact but not in form. The needed work is done, 
but the forms of law are saved by legal fiction. Ubi jus ibi 
remedium,; but there is no remedy at common law, and 
equity finds one through the edict of the Pretor or the deci- 
sions of the Chancellor. We have a written constitution as 
the basis of government, and the powers of the co-ordinate 
branches of government are defined. But time develops the 
old conflict between the unyielding law and the living organ- 
ism, with the odds, as Professor Wilson shows, in favor of 





546 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


the organism. We formulate our faith in creed statements, 
and after a century or two find that the Church and the 
creed are not in exact accord. There is nothing to wonder 
at. It is the old question of the letter and the spirit. ‘he 
letter has controlled the life. It has given the law to its 
variations. Political development in this land will follow 
the lines of the Constitution. Theological development 
will follow the lines of the creed that controls it. Unless 
the letter goes into the life of the organism it will become 
a dead letter; and if it goes into it, it will be modified and 
colored by circumstances of time and place. Now this ques- 
tion of the fixed and the variable is a much larger one than 
that of creed revision. It is at the root of nearly all the 
great questions of to-day. Men are realizing as never be- 
fore the solidarity of mankind. ‘The old Pelagian concep- 
tion of individualism is abandoned and there is a tendency 
to go to the opposite extreme. Individual opinion is hushed 
in the presence of advancing waves and irresistible move- 
ments, as they are called, and we are warned against the 
folly of trying to stop the rising tide. In the case of very 
advanced thinkers this worship of the Zeitgeist is associated 
with the dental of all a priori ideas. Standards of measure- 
ment there are none. ‘The movement is recognized, but 
there is no criterion by which to judge it, and the ideas that 
limit it and give it shape are ignored. Men say one must 
study the facts in an historical spirit and gather our induc- 
tion out of what we see. ‘The science of ethics becomes the 
science of what is, rather than of what ought to be, and if a 
doctrine of right survives at all, it is the doctrine that 
whatever is, is right. In the name of reason I protest 
against this tendency of thought. As a sovereign thinker 
within the realm of my own activities, I refuse to abdicate 
under the terrorism of popular sentiment. I refuse to say 





THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT 547 


that because the avalanche is irresistible, therefore it is 
right. I refuse to drown my reason in a tidal wave. And 
when any idea in philosophy, or politics, or theology is “in 
the air,’ I claim the right to examine its credentials and 
scrutinize its claims before I give it my acceptance. His- 
toric movements, as well as the actions of individual men, 
must be judged by fixed principles. It is easy then for me to 
define my position in regard to what is called progressive 
theology. Will you tie the Chyfich to the letter or give her 
the free life of the spirit? How will you adjust the rela- 
tions between the letter and the spirit; the Church and 
the creed; the organism and the law of its development? 
According to Schleiermacher, the New Testament is only 
the recorded religious experience of the Apostolic age, 
genetically related to the ages following, but giving no 
rubric and imposing no law. It follows, then, that there is 
no standard of faith, that truth is relative, and that the 
Christian organism is a law unto itself. The Roman Catho- 
lic, again, says that the organism is infallible and can speak 
in the present tense. It is not necessary, therefore, to be- 
lieve that all Divine revelation is contained in the Bible. 
Transubstantiation came by way of doctrinal evolution 
with the second council of Nice and Papal infallibility within 
the present generation. ‘The doctrine of evolution applied 
to theology by Cardinal Newman helps Rome to adjust the 
relation between the fixed and the variable. Protestants, 
however, have the written word as their only rule of faith. 
Changing taste cannot obliterate its doctrines. Organic 
drifts cannot vacate words of their historic sense. We can- 
not eliminate doctrines because we do not like them, or in- 
sert new ones because popular sentiment calls for them. 
What is written is written. The Christian consciousness 
can no more change the meaning of a Greek word than it 





548 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


can upset the multiplication table. ‘There is no legal fiction 
that can modify or change the Word of God. When men 
say, as in effect they do, that the old conception of a Sov- 
ereign God does not suit our republican ideas, they only 
blaspheme. And when by and by they will seek to dethrone 
Him and plainly say that each generation must elect its own 
Ruler and dictate his administrative policy, they will only 
carry to their logical consequences some of the prevalent 
ideas of to-day. I do not deny, however, that important 
truth is hinted at in the doctrine known as the Christian 
Consciousness. I am no advocate of ecclesiastical immo- 
bility. “fhe Christian Church is not an exact copy in mode 
of worship, methods of administration and form of govern- 
ment of the Church of the New Testament. We have dis- 
continued the holy kiss, and feet washing is no part of Chris- 
tian hospitality. We have salaried ministers and surpliced 
choirs, neither being known to the Apostolic Church. We 
have tried to foster the Apostolic spirit and perpetuate 
Apostolic ideas, but the Church has altered her mode of 
life and work to suit altered conditions of society. Paul 
said that under certain circumstances he would refuse the 
meat offered in sacrifice to idols, and would not drink wine 
that had any idolatrous associations. Interpret him liter- 
ally and his words have no application to modern life, for 
the conditions that controlled his decision no longer exist. 
Change his decision into a mandate of abstinence and at 
once you tyrannize over the conscience and rob the act of 
abstinence of all ethical significance. Generalize the state- 
ment, however, and you have the great law of altruistic 
morality which, after all abatements for selfishness have 
been made, is the most potent factor in our practical life. 
And so with doctrine. The dogmas of Christianity are 
fixed. he Bible does not change and we have no extra- 





THe LETTER AND THE SPIRIT 549 


Biblical revelation. But a dogma that is only read in the 
Bible or stated and subscribed to in a creed is only a dead 
letter. It must go into our life and be part of our intel- 
lectual and moral experience. But going into our individual 
and our organic life it adjusts itself to changing conditions, 
although unchanged itself. It will be read with a different 
emphasis in different periods; it will be interpreted in the 
light of the burning questions of those periods; it will be 
brought into relation with science and philosophy and ac- 
quire fresh interest from generation to generation from the 
new polemic conditions that are constantly emerging. Paul’s 
vocabulary was affected by his contact with philosophy. 
Ours will be. The attempt to eliminate philosophy from 
theology is a vain attempt. The two departments deal 
largely with the same subjects and cover common ground. 
All the material, whatever be its source, whatever be its 
authority, that goes to make our theory of the universe, 
must pass into our life and bear the impress of our thought; 
and as we think in philosophy so we shall be compelled to 
think in theology. We handle the same questions regard- 
ing God, freedom, and immortality that Paul did, that 
Augustine did, that Thomas Aquinas did, that Calvin did, 
and though the Scriptures have not changed and our reading 
of them, so far as these topics are concerned, is not ma- 
terially different from that of the men that have been 
named, we see the same truth under different conditions. 
Our heretics are not Cerinthus and Celsus, but Spencer and 
Kuenen. Our foe is not credulity, but Agnosticism. And 
as conditions change, our mode of presenting the unchange- 
able truth must also change. Remember, however, that if 
the letter without the life is dead, the life needs the letter 
to give law to its movement. Do not be deceived by the cry 
that the voice of the people is the voice of God. Do not 





550 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


hastily assume that every great movement is an inspired 
movement. We have no personal infallibility. We believe 
in no corporate infallibility. We have no faith in the in- 
spiration of large masses of men. When, therefore, under 
the influence of those who would have us put our faith in 
the organism rather than tie it to the written word, we begin 
to lose faith in the authority of Scripture, we give up our 
only basis of Christian certitude. 

4. The letter killeth, the spirit giveth life. Outward 
Rule and inward Principle are the two great agencies that 
operate on human conduct and they seem contrasted in the 
text. There is the inner principle in bent of inclination and 
dominant purpose seeking expression in our spontaneities; 
and here is the objective code by which we seek to guide our 
life and which is put before us as an instructive and restrain- 
ing influence. he world, says Mr. Lecky, is governed by 
its ideals. It is what we love to do that we do well. By 
help of rule alone men write no books and paint no pictures 
that wear the stamp of genius. They perform no acts of 
heroism in grudging compliance with law; they shine in none 
of the beauties of high and holy character when they have 
simply schooled themselves to follow another’s will. Work 
done in conformity with rule is drudgery and a weariness of 
the flesh. ‘There is the morality of principle and the mo- 
rality of outward conformity. ‘That there is a place for 
the morality of externalism and precept, of law and obe- 
dience to command, I do not doubt, yet I sometimes think 
that life is made more burdensome than it need be, and that 
we hinder rather than help the higher interests of morality 
by the excessive multiplication of rules. The State goes 
as far as it ought in encroaching upon the freedom of the 
individual, the Church is taking liberties with the rights of 
conscience in saying that its members shall do this and shall 





‘THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT 551 


not do that. We go to college and a code of instructions is 
the first lesson we are required to learn. We enter business 
and we find ourselves girt about by rule. We are more un- 
willing every day to assume that men will act right from 
principle and more disposed to think that they love to do 
wrong. Wholesale suspicion is the law of society. We 
are multiplying the machinery of detection. We cry, Who 
will keep the keepers? We are insuring ourselves at in- 
creasing cost against the dishonesty of those whom we have 
trusted. We watch the clerk at his desk, and the student in 
his examination. We put a bell-punch in the hands of the 
conductor and set traps for the night watchman. In forms 
more or less visible and in ways more or less irritating to the 
feelings we proclaim our inability to trust men and our 
conviction that all men are liars. Necessary all this may 
be for protection, though I still believe that we owe more to 
conscience than to all our complicated machinery of police. 
But the trouble is that men suppose that all this is moral 
education. There is an impression that you make men moral 
when you make them fear to do wrong and that by repress- 
ing wrong-doing you are elevating character. Make wrong- 
doing so difficult that right-doing will be easier and it is 
thought you will make men moral. And undoubtedly a great 
deal of the world’s morality is of this sort. A man obeys 
the law because he fears the penalty. He will lose his place, 
or incur the odium of society or be visited with social 
ostracism, or miss his diploma, and therefore he will do as 
he is told. And there are good men who fail to see that 
there is no morality in this. Not only do they fail to see it, 
but the opinion seems to be gaining ground that we can 
build up character by this system of externalisms. Men not 
only obey laws imposed by society for its own protection, 
but they take pledges, make promises, multiply vows for 





552 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


their own edification, and in place of the freedom of the 
spirit they are going back to the legalism of an older dis- 
pensation, are rejoicing in the bondage of the letter. “They 
should know, however, that enforced obedience is not moral 
education. Character is an endogenous plant and grows 
from within. Military training teaches men to obey law, 
but it does not teach them to love it. Deserters are shot; 
so the soldier does not desert. hat is all. Kant is right. 
The law that comes from without is not ethical. There is 
no morality in doing mght through calculation of conse- 
quences. Hence only self-legislated law is moral. ‘Though 
it be God’s’ law it must be autonomous before it is ethical. 
It must address the conscience and be approved as good. It 
must become a maxim of reason and not a mere command. 
For the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. “The State, 
of course, must protect itself and its main end is therefore 
not moral education. ‘This must be left to the Church. But 
what is to be our aim in the administration of a College? 
Shall we consider the good order of the organization, or 
the moral improvement of the student? It might be easy 
to do either; it may be hard to combine the two; but we must 
combine them. ‘There must be rules, but they should be 
few, and the application of them should address the con- 
science. We must prepare men for the franchises which 
they are so soon to inherit by respecting their manhood and 
avoiding all petty legislation. We must protect the organ- 
ism and at the same time labor for the good of the indi- 
vidual. We must hold law subservient to the end for which 
it is enacted and bend the rule if it be necessary in order to 
save the man. We must consider, it is true, the welfare of 
the mass, but we must sometimes, if need be, leave the 
ninety-and-nine, and care for the one who has gone astray. 
The college student is ingenuous, as a rule. He makes 


THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT 553 


mistakes and falls into mischief or sin. But the case is 
rare when you do not find something in him that draws you 
to him. He is frank. He will admit that he has abused 
kindness, trifled with good nature and acted meanly. He 
is sorry that he did so and his climax of regret is generally 
the thought of his mother’s anguish and his father’s sorrow. 
I have a large place in my heart for the man who is capable 
of this filial love. But, my brother, you must stand on 
higher ground than this. You are going out to face the 
temptations of the world. You will be confronted with the 
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. 
It is not enough that you recognize the authority of the out- 
ward law. You should make it an inner principle. It is not 
enough that wrong conduct be avoided because it is dis- 
honorable and will bring disgrace. Learn to avoid it, be- 
cause it is wrong. Learn to do right, because it is right. 
Learn to feel the sanctions of a higher morality and when 
your evil-doing fills you with regret, let it be because you 
have sinned against God and put a stain upon your soul. 

5. And now, Gentlemen of the Graduating Class, let 
me say a single closing word. ‘This week marks an impor- 
tant era in the calendar of your life. It means the sever- 
ance of old ties; the full assumption of personal responsi- 
bility, and the facing of the future. We have tried hard to 
fit you for the work of life. We have not done what we 
might have done; partly perhaps through our neglect, partly 
also through your neglect. But to some extent in all of 
you, I trust, and to a large extent in most of you, I know, 
our aim has been realized. In sending you out into the 
world we are making a contribution to its working force 
of which we have no reason to be ashamed. We have tried 
to make the education we have given you a commentary 
upon the words that I have chosen for my text. We have 





554 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


tried to foster in you high ideals in literature and high aims 
in science. We have tried to discipline your powers so that 
you will see the parts of Truth in their proper relations 
to each other and in just proportion. We have tried to 
show that the unchanging word of God is not a fossil to be 
laid upon the shelf, but the directing principle of the life, 
the inspiration of its movement and the law of its variation. 
We have tried to teach you also that the essence of all 
morality is a self-enunciated law of obligation, commanding 
without condition and despising calculation. And we have 
not forgotten in the services of this sanctuary that the con- 
trast between the letter and the spirit, bears witness also to 
another contrast between Law and Gospel, to which refer- 
ence was made in the beginning of this discourse. ‘The 
apostle did not mean to disparage the Law when he con- 
trasted it with the Gospel. [he Gospel did not supersede 
the Law, it only supplemented it. ‘The Law is holy, just 
and good. It came from God and is the expression of his 
will. It is perfect but unrelenting. It tells us what we 
ought to do. It sets before us an ideal that excites our 
admiration and provokes despair. You accept it as just but 
you cannot comply with it. You resolve and fail. You 
promise and break your vow. You make an effort and fall 
short. But the Law accepts no excuse and makes no allow- 
ance. There is no pity in its tones. It meets your contri- 
tion with no encouraging word. Its face is rigid and its 
voice is hard. Your passing grade, it tells you, is a hundred 
and you have failed. That is all it hastosay. It measures, 
it does not pity. It tabulates results, it does not forgive. 
The Law is the embodiment of God’s will, but there is also 
another embodiment of that will. And when conscious of 
your failure you go to Jesus and say, ““Oh Master, I know I 
ought to have done better, and I feel ashamed,” then will 


THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT 555 


come a look of such exquisite tenderness upon his face that 
will say before the words are spoken: [hy sins are forgiven 
thee; go in peace. When after fruitless endeavor to learn 
the lessons of life and do its work we go to him and say: 
“Oh Divine Teacher, I would fain learn but I am very slow, 
and my poor powers are not equal to this high task,” he will 
say to you again: “have patience, child, and I will teach thee. 
I will put my Spirit within thee. JI will perfect my strength 
in thy weakness.”’ The Law came by Moses but Grace and 
Truth came by Jesus Christ. Have fellowship with Christ. 
Walk with him. Turn ever to him for comfort, for 
strength, for guidance. Serve him while you live and by and 
by you shall be like him, and you shall see him as he is. 


Cae 
Pi 4 


4 


mV 


me a 
et 


ae 
baat nate Bie 
a 


pais 





Attaining Eternal Life 





REGINALD JOHN CAMPBELL 


EGINALD JOHN CAMPBELL was born in 
London in 1867. His father and grandfather before 

him were Nonconformist ministers. He was educated at 
Christ Church, Oxford, and in 1895 entered the ministry 
of the Congregational Church as pastor of Union Chapel, 
Birmingham. In 1903, he succeeded Joseph Parker as 
minister of the City Temple, London. WHere he achieved 
great renown as a preacher and his ministry was waited 
on by large congregations. His sermons evinced an un- 
usual ability to deal with the individual and grapple with 
the problems of temptation and doubt. Good examples of 
these sermons are to be found in the volume, “Sermons 
Preached to Individuals.” During his years at the City 
Temple, Dr. Campbell became known as an advocate of 
the “New Theology” and was perhaps its most famous 
exponent in the pulpit. His sermons and his book ‘The 
New Theology” seemed to show a sharp divergence from 
the great current of evangelical tradition and he became 
the center of an intense theological controversy. In 1915, 
he withdrew from the City Temple and the following year 
was ordained into the ministry of the Church of England. 
After a term of service at Birmingham and London, he 
became the incumbent of Holy Trinity, in Brighton, the 
church made famous by the preaching of Frederick W. 
Robertson. In an interesting book, “A Spiritual Pilgrim- 
age,’ Dr. Campbell gives us his spiritual and ecclesiastical 
autobiography. In this book he plainly withdraws from 
the advanced radical and modern position of his “New 
Theology” and confesses that his views of former years 
did not do justice to the deep tragedy of sin and the 
Divine remedy for it. In the sermon on Attaining Eternal 
Life, Dr. Campbell shows how eternal life is attained by 
the believer’s union with Christ and that “rules and insti- 
tutions, church and sacraments are all means of putting the 


oief; 





558 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


soul in contact with Christ; of themselves they can do 
nothing for us. ‘There is not a single Christian institu- 
tion in the wide world that claims to do anything more 
than bring Christ and the soul together; it is Christ Him- 
self to Whom we must look for the gift of eternal life.” 


Attaining Eternal Life 


“And when He was gone forth into the way there came one 
running and kneeled to Him and asked Him: Good Master, 
what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?’ (Mark 
BUT Ay: 


HE story of the coming of the rich young ruler to 

our Lord ts told in all three of the earlier gospels 

with some variation in detail. The fullest account is 
given in St. Mark, which is undoubtedly the oldest version 
as we have it today, though I am not sure that those scholars 
are right who think that it was the one source made use of 
and modified by the other two. I think there are signs that 
all three drew upon a common oral tradition, for of course 
the incident must have been well known and often repeated 
in the apostolic church before our gospels came to be writ- 
ten. St. Mark, as is his wont, gives us a more vivid picture 
of the scene than the others. He tells us that the young 
man came running to Jesus and knelt down before Him 
while putting the question, What shall I do that I may in- 
herit eternal life? Neither Matthew nor Luke says any- 
thing about these actions which certainly add intensity to 
the episode. Another illuminating touch given by the 
second evangelist alone is the truly beautiful statement that 
‘Jesus beholding him loved him.” ‘This is the only place 
in the New Testament where such a phrase is employed, and 
in this particular place it helps us to realize better than a 
whole page of description would have done just what our 
Lord’s attitude to this suppliant was. It is equivalent to 
saying that Jesus looked kindly and steadily at the kneeling 
youth—or, in other words, as has been tellingly pointed 


Boe) 





560 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


out, smiled upon him. In fact this is the only passage in 
the gospels where we are definitely told that Jesus ever did 
smile. We know He must have done so, but nowhere else 
is the fact asserted. Evidently He found something spe- 
cially attractive in the character of this young man, and 
indeed we can judge for ourselves that there must have been 
an unusually winsome quality in the demeanour of one who 
was manifestly so much in earnest about good things. He 
was wealthy and of high position but did not hesitate to 
prostrate himself beforé a wandering rabbi in whom he 
recognized his spiritual superior. He claimed to have kept 
all the commandments from his youth up, and the fact that 
he could honestly say this at once commended him to Jesus 
as an uncommon example of simple human goodness. There 
were not many then, there are not many now, who could 
say as much without either hypocrisy or self-righteousness. 

What then was the meaning of his question? In seeking 
the way to obtain eternal life was he conscious of some 
immediate lack in his experience or was he looking forward 
to a desired end which had little or nothing to do with keep- 
ing the letter of the moral law as he had hitherto under- 
stood it? I think the former; but let us look into the sub- 
ject for a few moments and perhaps we shall understand 
it better. 

In the first place we ought to note that the form of the 
question is much more characteristic of the fourth gospel 
than of the others. Matthew, Mark and Luke dwell prin- 
cipally upon our Lord’s teaching concerning the Kingdom of 
God, but John represents Him as saying more about eternal 
life. No doubt Jesus used both terms in His discourses be- 
cause He found both actively employed as familiar concep- 
tions in the common speech of His time and race. ‘They 
meant very nearly the same thing in the mind of Jesus 





ATTAINING ETERNAL LIFE 561 


though scarcely so to the generality of His hearers. One 
term was Jewish in origin and the other Greek; but as 
Palestine at that moment had been brought within the 
orbit of Greek culture and modes of thought, there is 
nothing strange in the fact that the idea of eternal life 
should be almost as well known to Jew as to Gentile 
though not as closely bound up with the national history 
as that of the Kingdom of God. We must not pause just 
now to discuss the genesis of either term. Suffice it to say 
that to devout souls among the seed of Abraham the King- 
dom of God meant that state or mode of being, here and 
hereafter, in which the will of God was perfectly realized. 
And I think I am justified in saying that eternal life meant 
the life belonging to that state, the life that is lived and 
enjoyed wherever and whenever God’s will is being per- 
fectly done. It is the life that is lived in heaven now; that 
is why it can rightly be described as eternal. All that comes 
short of this life, all that is only of the natural man and 
this present world, is fluctuating, imperfect, unsatisfying, 
unideal. We know only too well that the time-life, so to 
speak, life as we are acquainted with it day by day, is far 
from being all that we crave or that we feel we have capacity 
for. If we could only get up to the life that is lived by 
God and His angels we should have done with conflict, inner 
disharmony, and all subjection to sorrow and sin. We 
should be sharers in the changeless, abiding, all-complete 
glory and bliss of the eternal spiritual order. 

This, or something closely approximating to this, was 
what our Lord had in view when He spoke about eternal 
life, and, more or less, it was what hungry souls then as 
now were ardently desiring. The Greek idea was not quite 
the Jewish, to be sure. Dr. E. F. Scott points out in his 
learned treatise on the Fourth Gospel that in the Old Testa- 


562 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


ment God is always spoken of as the living God or God of 
life because He 1s the one source of the life of His creatures. 
Life in human experience is the sum of man’s energies, 
physical, mental, and moral. No distinction is made be- 
tween eternal and temporal in this regard. We may have 
more life or less life but not two or more different kinds of 
life. To Greek thought on the other hand there is a differ- 
ence maintained between lower and higher, between tem- 
poral and eternal. Perfection is only to be sought in that 
which is eternal, and there is a difference of quality between 
that which is only of this world and that which is a par- 
taking of the eternal life of God. Eternal life is not mere 
immortality, however. It was not immortality of which 
this young ruler was in quest but an actual participation in 
that flawless good which is above all the vicissitudes of time 
and sense and in which the struggle with pain and evil is 
unknown. The promise of immortality might be construed 
as the assurance of going on after the shock of death, but 


the possession of eternal life means going up into that which oF 


is as contrasted with all that merely seems to be and passes 
away. It is what we are all searching for; the craving for 
it is at the root of all spiritual aspiration and endeavour; 


and the acquirement of it cannot stop short of unhindered “ 


union with God. ‘The oft-quoted definition in our Lord’s 
valedictory prayer, “‘This is life eternal, that they might 
know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou 
has sent,” is to be understood in this sense. It does not 
denote mere acquaintance with God, but actual living con- 
scious fellowship, a laying hold of God’s life, as it were, and 
making it ours; or rather it is God’s life laying hold of ours, 
energising and transforming ours and assimilating ours to 
itself. 

That this was how Jesus thought of it is clear from the 





ATTAINING ETERNAL LIFE 563 


general trend of His recorded utterances. As the late 
Father Tyrrell said in his ‘Christianity at the Cross 
Roads,” our Lord, so far as we can judge from what the 
evangelists have preserved of his teaching, especially in such 
passages as my text, firmly believed in a transcendental 
world, a spiritual or heavenly world, to which man truly 
belongs, and in union with whose life alone he can find his 
perfect being. ‘The life of that higher world may be im- 
parted to us now in some degree, and Christ is the means of 
imparting it. He is the life giver. ‘I am come that they 
might have life and that they might have it more abund- 
antly.” ‘Ye will not come to me that ye might have life.” 
‘He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the 
Son of God hath not life.’ The young ruler was right in 
his instinctive perception that Jesus not only knew the secret 
of the way to obtain eternal life but was able to communi- 
cate it to others. He felt that Jesus had what he wanted, 
and the very fact that he discerned this so clearly is evidence 
of his own high spiritual quality. 

But how strange at first sight is the way in which Jesus 
deals with him. He bids him strip himself of all earthly 
possessions and follow Him in voluntary poverty, and the 
well-born youth was unequal to the test. But why was it 
ever made? Our Lord had rich followers, who, as far as 
we can learn, were not asked to surrender their wealth. 
Joseph of Arimathaea was one, in whose tomb He after- 
wards lay; there were members of Herod’s household asso- 
ciated with Him, but we do not read that they forfeited 
their positions; Lazarus was another friend who appears 
to have been well to do and remained such. Perhaps I 
ought to interpolate here that there is one ancient tradition 
that identifies the rich young ruler with Lazarus. I should 
be glad to think it were true, for if so we have the satisfac- 





564 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


tion of knowing not only that this lovable seeker returned 
to Jesus, but also that he lived to become one of the closest 
and most intimate of the Master’s friends. We may be sure 
he would come back in any case; such a fine nature as this 
could not remain long away from Jesus once it had made 
acquaintance with Him. It is clear enough why Jesus made 
the demand that the young man should sell all that he had, 
and I cannot agree with those commentators upon this 
incident who believe that our Lord here was laying down a 
general rule to which all His disciples were expected to con- 
form. He simply struck hard and straight at the one thing 
wherein this young man’s self-love held him in bonds; that 
was all. The fettering thing might have been something 
else; it might have been ambition, love of fame or power, or 
some baser form of self-indulgence; but it happened to be 
the possession of wealth that was the one thing he could not 
sacrifice, and this Jesus knew. Perhaps later on he was 


able to comply with the requirement; if so, its purpose was’ 


fulfilled whether he became poor or not. ‘There is nothing 
either good or bad in itself,’’ writes a modern spiritual 


teacher, ‘‘but only as it is either the servant or the master © 
of the soul—that is to say, either as the individual is 7 . 


unattached and undesirous, or otherwise. When we are un- 
attached, undesirous of possessions or powers for their own 


sake, we may possess all things, and have all powers with- | 
out evil. When a diamond is no more to us as a possession 
than a pebble on the beach, we should be fitted to possess © 


all the diamond mines in the world—and not until then. 
Paradoxically also, the less we desire to possess the more 
we really possess; the more the world and all that is in it 
becomes to us a treasure house of untold riches which none 
can take from us.” Thus Thomas Trahern writes (Cen- 
turies of Meditation, i. 25) : “Your enjoyment of the world 


a r, 





ATTAINING ETERNAL LIFE 565 


is never right till you so esteem it that everything in it is 
more your treasure than a King’s exchequer full of Gold and 
Silver. And that exchequer yours also in its place and 
service. . . . | remember the time when the dust of the 
streets were as pleasing as Gold to my infant eyes, and now 
they are more precious to the eye of reason.”’ 

Now let us come to the consideration of the value which 
the spiritual truth we have been examining possesses for 
ourselves. That we are all in need of eternal life no one 
in this congregation would be disposed to deny in view of 
our ordinary experience of life as lived in the world to-day. 
In a recent article that clever humanist Mr. H. G. Wells, 
whose analyses of modern conditions are always suggestive 
and penetrating, describes his experience of human nature 
and his estimate of its possibilities in the future. He says 
he finds in the hearts of men “an immense self-love, a 
tremendous concentration upon our personal drama, physi- 
cal cravings bare and physical cravings disguised and subli- 
mated, desire to possess, desire for security, and such-like 
fear-begotten desires, a desire for praise and approval and 
an instinctive dread of the disapproval and hostility of our 
fellowmen, an aggressive pride and self-assertion so soon 
as fear is allayed. We find, too, imitative impulses, com- 
petitive impulses—jealousy.’’ This is human nature as he 
knows it and about which it is impossible to afirm confi- 
dently any very great things; but he builds his hopes for 
tomorrow on two cognate impulses of that same nature, 
namely the desire to know and the desire to create. If the 
future of humanity on this planet is to be better than its 
past he thinks that these two forces are the ones most 
likely to accomplish the change. If that is so, I am afraid 
our prospects of betterment are but slender. We know 
vastly more about the natural world than our fathers did, 





566 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 





and our creative energies have achieved truly miraculous 
results in recent years, but to what end are these gains being 
devoted? If in part they are making for betterment it is 
also unfortunately true that in a large degree they have 
served to increase the sum of human misery. In other 
words the human nature which Mr. Wells so accurately 
describes is not radically transformed by any of its own 
enterprises; increase of knowledge and power does nothing 
to regenerate it but rather to give new modes of expression 
to its mixed innate good’and evil. This accords with our 
individual experience. A recent writer says: “I suppose 
most grown-up people can recall the wounded amazement 
with which they first found themselves attacked by some- 
one to whom they were not conscious of ever having given 
cause.’ And Rudolf Eucken, a far greater thinker, en- 
dorses this saying in the following terms: “In great things 
and in small, there exists an evil disposition beyond all 
simple selfishness: hatred and envy, even where the hater’s 
self-interest is not touched; an antipathy to things great 
and divine; a pleasure found in the disfigurement or destruc- 
tion of the good.” No, it is impossible to be very optimistic 
about elemental human nature or about the moral level it 
has attained or is likely to attain by its own unaided en- 
deavours. To say there is much good in it is only to say 
that it is made in the image of God, however marred and 
obscured that image may be, but the fact is only too sadly 
apparent that there is also much evil inherent in it and that 
of and by ourselves we cannot expel that evil. I think well 
enough of my fellow-men to believe that most of us would 
if we could escape from the dominion of our baser self- 
regarding instincts and live a higher, purer, nobler life. 
But, alas! we cannot. As Hurrell Froude, one of the 


ATTAINING ETERNAL LIFE 567 


earliest leaders of the Tractarian movement, wrote in a 
moment of introspective despair— 


Oh, God of mercy, Why am I 
Still haunted by the self I fly? 


We all feel like that sometimes, and the more earnest our 
desire for goodness the deeper our realization of our failure 
and sin. Hence the craving for a life in which there shall be 
no longer any consciousness of such a discord, a life in 
which one’s deeds shall be the effortless expression of one’s 
highest, a life in which we can express all our finest capaci- 
ties unhindered and know them to be in perfect. harmony 
with the universal good. Ah, if we only had it! As it is 
we are not only the victims of our own selfishness and world- 
liness but of that of others. When I look into your faces 
I cannot but feel a great compassion as I think of the life 
histories that are wrapped up in the silent hearts before 
me. What unhappiness is represented here; what pain and 
fear and puzzlement; what disappointment, anxiety, vain 
regret, and ceaseless strain! You do not find this world 
such a very good place to live in, all its beauty, sweetness, 
and sublimity notwithstanding. Leaving out of account the 
frivolous, shallow, and secular minded, not many of whom 
I should think would take the trouble to come here, I feel 
I am well within the mark in saying that the rest of you 
have known your share of the bitterness of life. I will make 
bold to add that even the young are not without that knowl- 
edge. Youth is not always a specially happy period. As 
one of the writers already quoted says: ‘‘With no practical 
experience to support them the young are up against the 
unknown and problematical.” And as for the old it is well 
if the certain disillusionment brought by the passing years 





568 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


has not crushed out hope and eventuated in loneliness of 
spirit and an inner weariness that matches the failing physi- 
cal powers. 

Listen then to me, I beg of you, for what I have yet 
to say is indefeasible truth which anyone may verify for 
himself and will transfigure your whole experience. I give 
you this apostolic counsel: “Fight the good fight of faith, 
lay hold on eternal life.’ You can escape your present 
subjection to ephemeral and unreal values; you can be put 
into possession of a talisman that will render you superior 
to all forces that now have power to oppress and imprison 
your soul. What you really need is to be able to breathe 
the air of heaven while dwelling amid the shadows of earth, 
to live the life eternal in the midst of time. Dean Inge 
said something in his Paddock Lectures many years ago 
which is not so well known as most of the things he is saying 
now but it is as helpfully true as anything he ever uttered: 
“The fundamental postulate of religious faith is that no 
value is ever lost from the world. In whatever way we en- 
visage the heavenly as opposed to the earthly, the perfect 
as opposed to the imperfect, whether we represent it under 
the form of time or place or substance, the eternal and 
spiritual world is God’s treasure house of all that shares 
in His nature and fulfills His will.’ You can have access 
to that treasure house now and draw upon it for all your 
needs. ‘There is no lack that cannot be met, no problem 
that cannot be solved thereby. He whose life is the light 
of men will give it to you if you ask him, but there is some- 
thing for you to do as well. He wants that self of yours, 
all of it, and will be content with nothing less. I do not 
know just how He is going to strike at your self-love as He 
smote that of the young man whose question forms my text 
and is exactly the same as you are asking to-day, but I know 








ATTAINING ETERNAL LIFE 569 


that that self-love will have to be destroyed or rather trans- 
muted into something else in order that the life eternal may 
fill and possess your soul. Nor is it as impossible to give 
up as you think. If you only knew what getting away from 
your own centre means and finding your new centre in Christ 
you would not hesitate a moment; you would run to meet 
the blessing with outstretched hands. For the truth is that 
we do not know and cannot know ourselves, cannot attain 
to the true and eternal life for which we are constituted as 
long as we keep anything back; we have to renounce in order 
to receive; we have to exchange the love of the little for 
the love of the great, the part for the whole, self for God. 
‘Never fear to let go” says James Hinton; “‘it is the only 
means of getting better things,—self-sacrifice. Let go; let 
go; we are sure to get back again. . . . Andif the question 
will intrude, ‘What shall I have if I give up this?’ relegate 
that question to faith, and answer, ‘I shall have God. In 
my giving, in my love, God, who is Love, gives Himself 
to me.’ ”’ 

Try to realize this as a practical thing. Not till you 
have given everything to Christ can you apprehend what a 
wonderful thing has happened to you. ‘The life that you 
live henceforth, as the apostle says, you live by faith in the 
Son of God who loved you and gave Himself for you. It 
is no longer yours but His, and yet it is far more yours 
than it was before. Because He reigns within you peace 
will be enthroned at the very centre of your being; you 
shall be strong and at rest where now you are weak and 
tempest tossed. 


Thou life within my life than self more near, 
Thou veiléd presence infinitely clear, 

From all illusive shows of sense I flee 

To find my refuge and my rest in Thee. 





570 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


Take part with me against those doubts that rise 
And seek to throne thee far in distant skies! 
Take part with me against the self that dares 
Assume the burden of these sins and cares. 


It is to Christ as a personal Saviour that we have to 
come. Rules and institutions, church and sacraments are all 
means of putting the soul in contact with Christ; of them- 
selves they can do nothing for us. There is not a single 
Christian institution in the wide world that claims to be able 
to do anything more than bring Christ and the soul to- 
gether; it is Christ Himself to whom we must look for the 
gift of eternal life, the life that is the eflux of His grace and 
love. Marvellous beyond words is the one simple fact that 
Christ loves us, loves us one by one, dwells with us, guides, 
guards, enlightens, satisfies us, the nearest and tenderest of 
all friends and the one upon whom utter dependence can be 
placed at all times and in every need. ‘And when Christ 
who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear with 
Him in glory.” 


The Power of the Gospel 





GEORGE CAMPBELL MORGAN 


EORGE CAMPBELL MORGAN was born at 

Tetbury, England, December 9, 1863. He was 
ordained to the ministry of the Congregational Church in 
1889, and after various pastorates in England became 
minister of Westminster Chapel, London, where he 
preached until 1917. Since that time he has been en- 
gaged in conference preaching and special services in Great 
Britain and the United States. Dr. Morgan is the author 
of many religious books, the best known of which is “The 
Crises of the Christ.” He is one of the best known preach- 
ers of the English speaking world and commands large 
congregations wherever he preaches. His homiletic method 
is expository rather than topical, and he takes high rank 
as an expository preacher. ‘Tall in stature and unique in 
manner and method, Dr. Morgan is one of the marked 
personalities of the contemporary pulpit. 


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The Power of the Gospel 


‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of 
God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew 
first, and also to the Greek. For therein is revealed a right- 
eousness of God by faith unto faith: as it is written, But the 
righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:16, 17). 


HEN Paul wrote this letter he had never visited 

Rome. He earnestly desired to do so, and expected 

that his desire would be fulfilled. That desire was 
created by the fact of his Roman citizenship, and by his in- 
terest in the Christian Church in Rome; and that more espe- 
cially because he desired that the Church in that city should 
be an instrument for the evangelisation of the Western 
world. Writing thus to the saints in the Imperial City, he 
declared that he was not ashamed of the gospel, and he gave 
his reasons. 

The statement that he was not ashamed is in itself in- 
teresting. It is the only occasion on which we find Paul 
even suggesting the possibility of being ashamed of the gos- 
pel. I am perfectly well aware that this is a declaration 
that he was not ashamed; but why make the declaration? I 
think there can be but one answer, and it is suggested by the 
words immediately preceding the text: ‘““So much as in me 
is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you also that are in © 
Rome.” The declaration that he was not ashamed of the 
gospel, with its implicate of the possibility of being ashamed, 
was the result of his consciousness of Rome, of its imperial 
dignity, of its material magnificence, of its proud contempt 
for all aliens, of the vastness of its multitudes, of the pro- 
fundity of its corruption. There was no question in his 


oN 





574 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


mind as to the power of his gospel, and yet we detect the 
undertone of enquiry as he wrote: “‘I am ready to preach 
the gospel to you also that are in Rome. For I am not 
ashamed of the gospel.”’ 

It is always easier to preach in a village than in a city, 
to the sweet, simple people of the country-side, than to the 
satisfied metropolitans. It is not really so, but the feeling 
that it is so, invariably assails the soul of the prophet of 
God. In answer to that consciousness of his soul, or per- 
haps in answer to his feeling that such a consciousness 
might exist in the minds of the Roman Christians, Paul 
afirmed his readiness to preach the gospel in Rome also, de- 
claring that he was not ashamed of it, and giving as his rea- 
son that this gospel was “the power of God unto salva- 
tion.”’ The only justification of a gospel is that it is power- 
ful. A message that proclaims the need for, and the pos- 
sibility of, spiritual and moral renewal, must be tested by 


_. the results it produces. A word devoid of power is no word 


of the Lord. A gospel that fails to produce the results it 
announces as necessary and as possible is no gospel. Is our 
gospel the power of God? 

Let me at once say that the particular burden of my 
message this evening has come to me as the result of a long 
letter which I now hold in my hand, four closely written 
pages which I am not going to read to you in full, but which 
I have read again and again for my own soul’s profit and 
examination as a preacher of the gospel, and from which 
I propose to read a few sentences. The letter was written 
under date September 23rd, and referred to meetings which 
had been held in preparation for the winter’s work: 

“You were saying on Tuesday evening that men were 
everywhere enquiring after reality, and I quite agree. We 
often hear about the dynamic of Christianity. There are 





THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL Sh 





youths and young men—I speak only of those about whose 
temptations I know something—who have to face tempta- 
tions, and even this week have cried to the Lord Jesus for 
help and have tried the best they knew how to overcome, 
yet have failed. When a young man comes to me and asks 
where he can get the power to overcome, what am I to say? 
One did remark to me, ‘Is it not a lack in our religion that 
it supplies no real power to overcome such-and-such tempta- 
tions, temptations that cannot be avoided, and that have to 
be faced?’ Men don’t want a merely theoretic idea or ideas 
about the dynamic of Christianity. They want to realise 
how they can practically appropriate that dynamic. Care- © 
ful Christian workers want to know how far, and in what 
way, they may safely encourage those spiritually sick and 
blind to hope for spiritual help after they have believed for 
the forgiveness of their sins; and experience shows it must 
not be a matter of mere inference, for inference would be 
likely to promise more than what seems to be generally 
realised. To hold out hopes that experience must disap- 
point is disastrous. Yes, it is reality men are longing for.” 

I believe that letter expresses the enquiry and the feel- 
ing of many souls. I think that my friend has fastened upon 
a word that he knows I am peculiarly fond of, the word 
dynamic. I plead guilty; I love the word, and I use it a 
great deal, and I do so because it is a New Testament word. 
It is the very word of my text, The gospel is the power, 
Sivas of God unto salvation. The letter of my friend 
is practically a challenge of the declaration of my text. The 
text says that “The gospel is the power of God unto sal- 
vation.” My friend suggests that there are men who have 
heard the call of Jesus, who have been obedient to it, and 
yet have not experienced that power. I am not going to 
argue the points of the letter, but rather to consider the 





576 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


statement of Paul, hoping and believing that in that con- 
sideration and in an attempt to understand the meaning of 
the great apostle at this point there may be help for honest 
souls whose difficulty is voiced by the writer of the letter. 
Let me, however, say to the writer of the letter, and to 
_all such, that I agree that there is nothing more important 


/ to-day than that the Christian preacher and teacher should 


be real in the use of terms; but all who are making that de- 
mand must recognise the extreme difficulty of reality in ter- 
minology when dealing with spiritual forces that can never 
be perfectly apprehended. Whenever we have to deal with 
great forces we find ourselves in a similar difficulty. I am 
not an electrician, but I suggest a question as to whether 
the phrase, to develop electricity, is an accurate phrase. I 
do not say that it is not, but I ask, Can you develop elec- 
tricity? Is it not after all a word that we hazard, until we 
come to fuller knowledge? Is there any man in this house, 
_ or in London, or in the world, who ts prepared to tell us the 
last thing about electricity, not only as to what can be done 
by it, but also as to what it is? The moment we get into 
the realm of great forces which are intangible, imponder- 
able, demonstrated by what they do, we are at least in dan- 
ger of seeming to be unreal in our terms. We are dealing 
now with the most wonderful of all forces. At the close of 
our meditation undoubtedly there will be a sense in which 
some of the terms made use of seem to lack reality. It is 
not that the force dealt with is unreal, but that it is so be- 
yond our final explanation that terms cannot be discovered 
which cover the facts of the case, while excluding everything 
that should be excluded. 

Confining ourselves;now to the words selected, let us 
consider: first, the affirmation, ‘“The gospel . . . is the power 
of God unto salvation’’; secondly, the cohdition upon which 








THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL $77 





the power is appropriated, ‘‘to every one that believeth”’; 
and finally, the exposition of the operation which the apostle 
added, “for therein is revealed a righteousness of God by 
faith unto faith.” 

First, then, as to the affirmation. Here many sentences 
are not necessary. The apostle declares that ‘“‘the Gospel 

. 1s the power of God unto salvation to every one that 
believeth.” The power; that is something which produces 
results, something which is more than a theory, something 
which is mightier than a law, an actual, spiritual force, pro- 
ducing spiritual results, an actual power accomplishing 
things. What it is in itself may be a mystery; how it does 
its work may not be known; but the apostle declares that it 
accomplishes certain things; and that we may know that the 
gospel is more than a theory, more than a law, that it is a 
power, by the results that it produces. He, moreover, 
makes the superlative declaration that it is “the power of 
God.” This is the superlative way of declaring its suffi- 
ciency for the doing of certain things. In quality it is ir- 
resistible, in quantity it is inexhaustible. Yet, further, he 
declares that it is “‘the power of God unto salvation.’ This 
at once defines and limits the power of the gospel. ‘The 
gospel is the power that operates to this end alone. ‘The 
gospel is the power which operates to this end perfectly. 

The word salvation immediately suggests the enquiry 
as to the danger that is referred to, for to know the danger 
is to know the scope of the salvation. Here, briefly to sum- 
marise, the danger is twofold: pollution of the nature, and 
paralysis of the will. Men, in the presence of temptation, 
find that their nature is so weakened that they yield; and 
their will is so paralysed that even when they have willed 
not to yield, they still yield. That is the whole story of the 
danger. The apostle declares that the gospel is “the power 


578 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


of God unto salvation’; that is, for the cleansing of the na- 
ture from its pollution, and for the enabling of the will, so 
that henceforth a man shall not only will to do right, but 
shall do it. 

It is perfectly clear, however, that the gospel only op- 
erates in human lives upon the fulfilment of conditions. The 
gospel is not the power of God to every man. ‘The gospel 
...1is the power of God to every one that believeth.” The 
apostle here recognised the human possibility; that is, a pos- 
sibility common to all human nature, irrespective of race or 
privilege. ‘Io the Jew first; and also to the Greek”’; and 
to the Greek, none the less and none the later. The condi- 
tions can be fulfilled by men as men, apart from the question 
of race or privilege or temperament. The gospel can be 
believed by the metropolitan or the provincial, the dweller 
in Rome as surely as the dwellers in the hamlets through 
which he had passed, the learned or the illiterate; belief is 
the capacity and possibility of human life everywhere. 

What, then, is this capacity? We must interpret the 
use of the word believe here, by its constant and consistent 
use in the revelation of the New Testament. There must 
be conviction before there can be belief. Belief is always 
founded upon reason. How can they believe who have not 
heard? ‘The conviction is not necessarily that of the truth 
of the claim; it is not necessarily conviction that the gospel 
will work. There can be faith before I am sure that this 
gospel is going to work. Indeed, thousands of people have 
a profound conviction that the gospel will work, who yet 
have never believed. The conviction necessary is that in 
view of the need experienced, and of the claim which the 
gospel makes, it ought to be put to the test. Jesus said to 
His critics upon one occasion, “If any man willeth to do His 
will, He shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God.” 





THe POWER OF THE GOSPEL 579 


Surely that was a perfectly fair test. He that puts the gos- 
pel to the test of obeying it, shall find out whether its claim 
of power be accurate. When a man is convinced, that in 
the presence of his need and of the claim which the gospel 
makes, he ought to put it to the test, he has come to the true 
attitude of mind in which it is possible for him to exercise 
faith. Faith, then, is volitional. That is the central re- 
sponsibility of the soul. Faith is not a feeling that comes 
stealing across the soul. Faith is not an inclination toward 
the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is not an intellectual convic- 
tion that this thing is so. Faith is that volitional act which 
decides in the presence of the great need, and in the presence 
of the great claim, to put that claim to the test by obedience 
thereto. Conduct is the resulting expression; conduct which 
is conformity to the claims made by the gospel, immediately 
and progressively. Whatever the proclamation of the gos- 
pel shall say to the soul, the soul is to put the gospel to the 
test by obeying. Invariably in the actual coming of a soul 
to Christ under conviction of sin, everything is focussed at 
some one point; and when that is obeyed there will be other 
calls made upon the soul by this gospel, which is one of pur- 
ity and righteousness as well as of mercy and of love. Faith 
is that volitional act which puts the gospel to the test by obe- 
dience to its claims. ‘That is the condition of appropriation. 

The whole situation is illuminated for the enquiring soul 
by the explanatory word: ‘‘For therein is revealed a right- 
eousness of God by faith unto faith.” ‘That is the exposi- 
tion of what he has already written concerning the gospel, 
both as to the nature of the power that is resident within it, 
and as to the law by which that power is appropriated in 
individual lives. The declaration that in the gospel there 
is a revelation of the righteousness of God does not mean 
that the gospel has revealed the fact that God is righteous. 





580 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


That revelation antedated the gospel; it was found in the 
law; it was found in human history; it was found every- 
where in the human heart. Out of that knowledge comes 
the agony of soul that seeks after a gospel. ‘The declara- 
tion clearly means that the gospel reveals the fact that God 
places righteousness at the disposal of men who in them- 
selves are unrighteous; that He makes it possible for the un- 
righteous man to become a righteous man. ‘That is the ex- 
position of salvation. Salvation is righteousness made pos- | 
sible. If you tell me that salvation is deliverance from hell, 
I tell you that you have an utterly inadequate understanding 
_of what salvation is. If you tell me that salvation is for- 
' giveness of sins, I shall affirm that you have a very partial 
understanding of what salvation is. Unless there be more 
in salvation than deliverance from penalty and forgiveness 
of transgressions committed, then I solemnly say that salva- 
tion cannot satisfy my own heart and conscience. ‘That is 
the meaning of the letter I received; mere forgiveness of 
sins and deliverance from some penalty cannot satisfy the 
profoundest in human consciousness. Deep down in the 
common human consciousness there is a wonderful response 
to that which is of God. Man may not obey it, but there in 
the deeps of human consciousness there is a response to 
righteousness, an admission of its call, its beauty, its neces- 
sity. Salvation, then, is the making possible of that right- ~ 
eousness. Salvation is the power to do right. However 
enfeebled the will may be, however polluted the nature, the 
gospel comes bringing to men the message of power en- 
abling them to do right. In the gospel there is revealed a 
righteousness of God; and as the apostle argues and makes 
quite plain as he goes on with his great letter, it is a right- 
eousness which is placed at the disposal of the unrighteous 
man so that the unrighteous man may become righteous in 





THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL 581 


heart and thought and will and deed. Unless that be the 
gospel, there is no gospel. Paul affirms that was the gos- 
pel which he was going to Rome to preach. 

Then we come to a phrase which is full of light. He 
tells us that this righteousness therein revealed, revealed in 
the gospel, is “by faith unto faith’’; and in that phrase he 
tells us exactly how men receive this power. He has already 
told us that it is to everyone that believeth, then he gives 
us an exposition of that phrase. As he has given us an 
exposition of “‘salvation’’ as the revelation of righteousness 
of God at the disposal of men, so now he gives us an exposi- 
tion of the phrase “‘every one that believeth” in the phrase 
‘by faith unto faith.” 

The phrase is at once simple and difficult. There can 
be no question as to its structure. Taking the phrase as it 
stands, and looking at it grammatically as apart from its 
context, it is evident that the second ‘“‘faith’’ is resultant 
faith. ‘The faith finally referred to, grows out of the faith 
first referred to. “By faith unto faith.” It is an almost 
surprising thing how successfully almost all expositors have 
hurriedly passed over this phrase. What did the apostle 
mean? Did he mean that is an initial faith on the part of 
man, which results in a yet firmer faith? ‘That is possible; 
but there is another explanation. I believe the apostle 
meant that in the gospel there is revealed a righteousness 
which is at the disposal af sinning men, by the faith of God 
unto the faith of man. The faith of God produces faith in 
man. ‘The faith of God. Ought such a phrase to be used 
of Him? Verily, if faith be certainty, confidence, and ac- 
tivity based upon confidence. The faith of God is faith in 
Himself, in His Son, and in man. Upon the basis of God’s 
faith in Himself, and upon the basis of His faith in His Son, 
and upon the basis of His faith in man, He places through 
His Son a righteousness at the disposal of man in spite of 





582 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


his sin. ‘That faith of God becomes, when once it is appre- 
hended, the inspiration of an answering faith in man. In- 
spired by God’s faith I trust Him. I act in consonance with 
the faith that He has demonstrated in human history, by 
the sending of His Son, and by all the provision of infinite 
grace. 

I take my way back from this epistle and observe once 
more the Lord Jesus as He revealed God to me; and that is 
what He always did in dealing with sinning souls. He al- 
ways reposed confidence in them in order to inspire their 
confidence in Himself. If Thou canst do anything, said one 
man to Him; If thou canst! All things are possible to him 
that believeth, was His answer. hat was the Lord’s dec- 
laration of His confidence in the possibility of the man who 
was face to face with the sense of his own appalling weak- 
ness. There are many yet more remarkable and outstand- 
ing illustrations in the New Testament. He ever dealt with 
men upon the basis of His confidence in them; in their pos- 
sibility in spite of failure; always on conditon that they 
would repose an answering confidence in Himself. A su- 
preme illustration of this was afforded in the upper room 
on that last night when he was dealing with the disciples 
in the sight of His approaching departure. Mark most care- 
fully His conversation with Peter. Peter, demanding to un- 
derstand Him, in agony in the presence of the gathering 
clouds, said: Where art Thou going? Jesus replied: 
Whither I go ye cannot come now, but ye shall come here- 
after. Again Peter asked: Why cannot I come now? I will 
follow Thee anywhere. I will die for Thee! Jesus replied: 
Wilt Thou die for me, Peter? Verily, verily, I say unto 
thee, the cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied Me 
thrice; let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, be- 
lieve also in Me. If I go away, I come again to receive you 





THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL 583 


to Myself. I go to prepare a place for you. Take out of 
that conversation its central value. It is that of Christ’s 
confidence. He said to Peter in effect: I know the worst 
that is in you, the forces that you have not yet discovered 
that will make you within four-and-twenty hours a denier, 
cursing and swearing; I know the worst; but if you will 
trust Me, I will realise the best in you. I know the best in 
you. I have perfect confidence in you, providing you will 
have confidence in Me. 

Let me take a superlative declaration. Whatever we 
think about humanity, Christ thought it worth dying for! 
He believed in it, in spite of its sin, in spite of its unutter- 
able failure. In all these Bible stories, when He confronted 
sinning souls, He believed in them. He knew their in- 
capacity. He knew that of themselves they nothing could; 
but He also knew that in them was the very stuff out of 
which he could make saints who should flash and shine in 
light forever. In spite of the spoiling of sin, there was that 
in them with which He could deal. If I may borrow an 
awkward word from the old theologians, God believes in 
the salvability of all men. God puts righteousness at the 
disposal of man by faith in Himself, in His Son, and in the 
man at whose disposal He places it. If that once be seen, 
men respond to that faith of God, by faith in Him. 

Let us come away from the realm of argument, into the 
realm of experience. All true Christian workers, men and 
women who know what it is really to get into close touch 
with sinning souls, and into grip with the spiritual life of 
men, have learned that the way to lift men back out of the 
slough of despond is to let them see that they believe in 
them. ‘The way to lift any woman back again out of the 
degradation into which she has come, is to show her you 
know she is capable of the higher and the nobler in the 





584 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. ‘‘By faith unto faith.” 
By faith a righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel. 
By the confidence which God reposes in Himself, and the 
confidence He has in the possibility of every human life, He 
has placed righteousness at man’s disposal through Christ. 
No man will ever avail himself of that except by faith. No 
man can appropriate the great provision save as he responds 
in faith to faith. As this faith of God in man is answered 
by the faith of man in God, then contact is made between 
the dynamic that is residént within Himself, and placed at 
the disposal of men by the mystery of His passion, and the 
weakness and incapacity of the human soul. 

Such was the gospel of which Paul was not ashamed. 
Such is the gospel. The accuracy of the theory can only be 
demonstrated by results. That is the whole theme. I am 
here this evening to afhrm once more, and I do it no longer 
as theory, I do it as an experience, I speak from this mo- 
ment not merely as advocate, but as witness, as I declare 
that “the gospel ...is the power of God unto salvation.” 
However hard and severe the afirmation may seem at the 
moment, I am nevertheless constrained and compelled to 
affirm, that if the gospel does not work, the failure is in the 
man, and not in the gospel. If that be not true, the whole 
Christian history is a lie. If that be true, then all the thou- 
sands and tens of thousands of human beings who for two 
millenniums have declared that the gospel has wrought in 
them, have been woefully deceived, or have been most mys- 
teriously perpetrating fraud throughout the centuries and 
millenniums. If it does not work, then that man who says 
that he has been delivered from besetting sin is a liar, and 
he is sinning in secret. Either this declaration is true, or 
the gospel is an awful deception, enabling men to hide secret 
sin. I pray you think again. If you have imagined that 





THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL 585 


there is no dynamic in the gospel, think again, and examine 
your own life again, and find out whether or not you have 
fallen into line with the claims of the gospel, and fulfilled 
its conditions. I assert that it is not enough that man shall 
hate his sin and cry out for help; he must put himself into 
line with the power that operates; he must fulfill the condi- 
tions laid down. It is not enough to submit to the Lord; 
a man must also resist the devil. It is not enough to resist 
the devil; a man must also submit to the Lord. ‘There are 
men who submit and cry for help; but they put up no fight 
against temptations. They will never appropriate the 
power. There are men who put up a strenuous fight against 
these temptations, but they never submit, never pray, never 
seek help. “They will never find deliverance. ‘The gospel 
is the power of God unto salvation to every one that be- 
lieveth.”” The gospel is that wherein the fact is revealed 
that righteousness as a power is at the disposal of sinning 
men by God’s faith in that man, inspiring man’s faith in 
God. If men would discover the power of this gospel, they 
will do so as they submit to its claim immediately and thor- 
oughly. 

If this were the time and place, which it is not, I could 
call witnesses. [hey are in this house; men who have 
known these very temptations delicately referred to in this 
letter, subtle, insidious temptations; but who also know that 
the gospel has meant to them power enabling them to do the 
things they fain would have done, but could not until they 
believed in this gospel. 

I would like my last note in this address to be an appeal 
to any man who is face to face with this problem. My 
brother, God believes in you, and that in spite of all the 
worst there is in you. God knows the worst in you, better 
than you know it yourself, yet He believes in you; and be- 





586 GREAT SERMONS OF THE WORLD 


cause He believes in your possibility He has provided right- 
eousness in and through the Son of His love, and by the 
mystery of His passion. I want you to respond to God’s 
faith in you by putting your faith in Him, and demonstrat- 
ing your faith by beginning with the next thing in obedience. 
You also will find that the gospel is the power of God; not 
theory, not inference, but a power, that coming into the life 
realises within the life and experience all the things of holi- 
ness and of righteousness and of high and eternal beauty. 


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